Table 1. Content summary of training sessions

 

 
Table 2. Demographic variables in two groups

 

Table 3. Descriptive findings of study variables

SD: Standard deviation


Table 4. Results of covariance analysis regarding mean of posttest anxiety and depression

 

Discussion
The results of covariance analysis showed that
there was a significant difference between the experimental group and control group in terms of occupational stress and emotional exhaustion. The first finding indicated that stress management training based on acceptance and commitment was effective in the occupational stress and emotional exhaustion of staff. These results are in line with the findings of studies carried out by Hayes et al. [17], Brinkborg et al. [18], and Moran et al. [19].
One of the main and prevalent problems in workplaces is stress or occupational pressure. These conditions of the workplace sometimes lead to negative consequences for the health of employees and workers in administrative and particularly industrial units. The most well-known issues threatening workers' health is occupational stress. Due to its underlying mechanisms, such as acceptance, awareness, presence at the moment, nonjudgmental observation, confrontation, and release, in combination with traditional cognitive behavioral therapy techniques, acceptance and commitment-based therapy can reduce psychological symptoms and increase effectiveness [20].
Nowadays, occupational stress and burnout are communal and serious problems among those who are working in human services. This phenomenon is a fundamental cause of physical and emotional illness that can lead to increased absenteeism from work, quitting work, and reduction in productivity. Those staffs who are suffering from occupational burnout are less motivated and less active in their job and mentally become indifferent, depressed, tiresome, and irritable [21].
Generally, occupational burnout increases with the experience of negative affective emotions. Occupational burnout is described as physical and emotional exhaustion as well as negative attitudes, leading to severe problems in occupational interactions with individuals. It seems reasonable to infer that participants attending meetings use their typical responses as secret emotional triggers (i.e., antecedent focused strategies) and learn how to quickly get rid of stressful exposures. They gain more awareness of new mindfulness techniques, such as tagging and reflection (i.e., a response-focused strategy) [22]. The employment of these types of emotion regulation strategies focused on antecedents and responses may be the basic mechanism for elucidating the effectiveness of mindfulness in reducing stress and improving mental well-being and psychological balance.
Training allows an individual to be more receptive to others, accept others without any prejudice and negative judgment, and encourage others to be kinder and more sensitive to the needs of others. Mindfulness by increasing individuals' capacity for self-awareness, empathic concerns, and emotional regulation provides steps to increase individuals' communication capacity. Situational factors and working conditions are also stressful and can lead
to personalized stress and disruption in the performance of an organization [23]. This kind of training, through raising awareness in individuals and enhancing motivations of staff, causes a pleasant feeling of doing the job in staff. It alters nervous pressure in staff, ultimately leading to the reduction of stress and improvement of duties in staff.
The importance of stress management and its consideration in organizations has been assumed, and awareness leads to the improvement of staff performance in organizations. In the past few years, one of the disturbing and effectual factors considering the process of individuals' careers is emotional exhaustion. It is one of the components of exhaustion in which an individual due to the loss of his/her emotional strength cannot emotionally communicate with others. It means that due to the loss of personal characteristics and through negative attitudes the individual embarks on nonemotional and violent responses to others.
Theorists believe emotional exhaustion is the triggering factor for job burnout [24]. Personnel who are afflicted with emotional exhaustion cannot satisfy their job demands. Therefore, they lose their enthusiasm to do the job in a good manner and deal with customers. It seems that emotional exhaustion is a kind of reaction to stressful interpersonal factors in the workplace where contact with bosses, supervisors, co-workers, and clients leads to alterations in their attitudes, behaviors, and relationships [25].
Emotional exhaustion results in the loss of emotional energy in a person who has lost his motivation for work and becomes tired of doing the job. Consequently, when he/she feels weak, the symptoms of emotional exhaustion appear. In other words, emotional exhaustion happens when physical reservations reduce due to the continuation of stressful occupational conditions leading to the deterioration of emotional forces and reduction of the level of positive attitude to the occupation. As a result, doing the job has become boring, and his/her overall life satisfaction reduces.
 
Conclusions
The obtained results of the present study revealed that acceptance and commitment-based stress management training influenced the occupational stress and emotional exhaustion of the staff. Due to the limitations of intergroup research methods (i.e., experimental), it is recommended to carry out future studies with single-subject experimental designs to investigate the method of acceptance and commitment therapy. Concerning the prime importance of the variables in the present study (i.e., occupational stress and emotional exhaustion), managers and leaders of governmental and nongovernmental organizations should take into account the implementation of training interventions of this study protocol regarding the career, organizational, and personal success of staffs. With regard to the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment-based stress management training as a new and effective approach in psychological and physical health, social functioning, emotions, and human resource productivity and empowerment in addition to no studies in this area, it is suggested to consider this intervention in future studies.
 
Compliance with ethical guidelines
All the ethical principles were considered in the present study. The participants were informed about the purpose of the study and implementation of the stages. In addition, informed consent was obtained from all the study subjects. The participants were also assured of the confidentiality of their information. Moreover, the subjects were allowed to withdraw from the study at any time, and the results of the study would be available to them if desired.
 
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to express their gratitude to the participants, who greatly cooperated with this study.
 
Authors' contributions
Conceptualization [Jahangir Mirzavandi]; Methodology [Jahangir Mirzavandi]; Investigation [Jahangir Mirzavandi]; Writing Original Draft [Jahangir Mirzavandi]; Writing, Review, and Editing [all authors]; Funding Acquisition [all authors]; Resources [all authors]; Supervision [Jahangir Mirzavandi]
 
Funding/Support
The current study did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
 
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
 
References