The Effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Therapy in Improving Psychological Flexibility and Zest for Life Among University Students Who Have Experienced a Romantic Breakup

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of emotion-focused therapy in improving psychological flexibility and zest for life among university students who had experienced a romantic breakup. Methods and Materials: This study employed a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest control-group design with a follow-up assessment. The statistical population comprised all university students in Birjand who had experienced a romantic breakup during the 2025–2026 academic year. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling, and 30 eligible students were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria and randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 15) or a control group (n = 15). The research instruments included the Psychological Flexibility Questionnaire (2010) and the Zest for Life After Romantic Breakup Questionnaire (Shomali & Barkhordari, 2026). The experimental group received group-based emotion-focused therapy in eight 90-minute sessions held twice weekly, whereas the control group received no intervention during this period. The data were analyzed using repeated-measures analysis of variance and the Bonferroni post hoc test. Statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS version 27. Findings: The results indicated that emotion-focused therapy had a significant effect on increasing psychological flexibility and zest for life among university students who had experienced a romantic breakup (p < .01). These effects were also maintained at the one-month follow-up assessment, and the differences between the experimental and control groups remained statistically significant for both variables (p < .05). Conclusion: Based on the findings, emotion-focused therapy can be used as an effective intervention to improve psychological flexibility and enhance zest for life among university students who have experienced a romantic breakup. It is recommended that this therapeutic approach be implemented systematically within university psychological and counseling services, particularly for students experiencing emotional distress following romantic breakups.