Abstract

The purpose of this study is to verify the impact of an ACT program delivered via a metaverse platform on the speech anxiety of university students. The study involved 36 students from a university in Busan who were assessed using a speech anxiety scale. The participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a metaverse group, a face-to-face group, and a waiting control group, with each group comprising 12 participants. The metaverse group participated in the ACT program through the metaverse platform, the face-to-face group engaged directly in person, and the waiting control group received no intervention. The program consisted of eight weekly sessions lasting between 60 and 90 minutes each. Measurements of speech anxiety, subjective anxiety levels, and heart rate were taken before, after, and during follow-up sessions. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 25.0, and a one-way ANOVA was performed to ensure homogeneity across the three groups. Both a two-way repeated measures ANOVA and a paired samples t-test were utilized to assess the program's impact on speech anxiety, subjective anxiety levels, and heart rate at pre-, post-, and follow-up stages. The findings indicated that both the metaverse and face-to-face groups experienced significant reductions in speech anxiety and subjective anxiety levels compared to the control group. Further analysis revealed that the metaverse group displayed a greater reduction in speech anxiety than the face-to-face group, while both groups showed approximately equal reductions in subjective anxiety levels. These findings imply that the ACT program, facilitated through the metaverse platform, may serve as a viable method for reducing speech anxiety among university students.