scholarly journals Exploring Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for parents of preterm infants

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kayla Esser ◽  
Lesley Barreira ◽  
Doug Miller ◽  
Paige Church ◽  
Nathalie Major ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Preterm Infants ◽  
Acceptance And Commitment Therapy ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care ◽  
Psychological Flexibility ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Behavioural Therapy ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Commitment Therapy ◽  
Acceptance And Commitment

Abstract The start of a parenting journey in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) presents many stressors to parents. Previous research has shown parents of infants admitted to the NICU experience heightened stress, anxiety, and depression. Mental health support varies across Canadian NICUs with mixed results. One promising intervention that has not been explored in the NICU is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a behavioural therapy that has had positive mental health-related outcomes in similar parental populations. ACT differs from previous mental health interventions such as traditional Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) as it involves mindfulness and acceptance to increase psychological flexibility. Increased psychological flexibility is linked to greater emotional well-being, a higher quality of life, and decreased stress, anxiety, and depression. There is a need for research investigating the utility of ACT in improving mental health outcomes for parents of preterm infants.

Study Protocol for Implementation of An Internet-based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Promoting Mental Health Among Migrant Live-in Caregivers in Canada (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Po-Lun Fung ◽  
Mandana Vahabi ◽  
Masoomeh Moosapoor ◽  
Abdolreza Akbarian ◽  
Josephine Pui-Hing Wong
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Acceptance And Commitment Therapy ◽  
Psychological Intervention ◽  
Self Care ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Commitment Therapy ◽  
Acceptance And Commitment

BACKGROUND Psychological distress, isolation, feeling of powerlessness, and limited social support are realities faced by temporary migrant live–in caregivers in Canada. Furthermore, they experience multiple barriers in accessing mental health services due to their long work hours, limited knowledge about health resources, precarious employment, and immigration status. OBJECTIVE Women Empowerment - Caregiver Acceptance & Resilience E-Learning (WE2CARE) project is a pilot intervention research project that aims to promote mental well being and resiliency of migrant live-in caregivers. The objectives include exploring the effectiveness of this program in: (1) reducing psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and stress); (2) promoting committed actions of self-care; and (3) building mutual support social networks. Further, participants’ satisfaction with the intervention and their perceived barriers and facilitators to practicing the self-care strategies embedded in WE2CARE will be examined. METHODS Thirty-six live- in caregivers residing in Great Toronto Area (GTA) will be recruited and randomly assigned to intervention and waitlist control groups. The intervention group will receive a 6-week web-based psychosocial intervention that will be based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Standardized self-reported surveys will be administered online pre-, post-, and 6-week post-intervention to assess mental distress (DASS 21), psychological flexibility (AAQ-2), mindfulness (CAMS-R) and Multi-System Model of Resilience (MSMR-I). Two focus groups will be held with a subset of participants to explore their feedback on the utility of the WE2CARE program. RESULTS WE2CARE was funded in January 2019 for a year. The protocol was approved by the research ethics boards of Ryerson University (REB 2019-036) in February 2019, and University of Toronto (RIS37623) in May 2019. Data collection started upon ethics approval and was completed by May 2020. A total of 29 caregivers completed the study and 20 participated in the focus groups. Data analyses are in progress and results will be published in 2021. CONCLUSIONS WE2CARE can be a promising approach in reducing stress, promoting resilience, and providing a virtual space for peer emotional support and collaborative learning among socially isolated and marginalized women. The results of this pilot study will inform the adaptation and utility of online delivery of ACT based psychological intervention in promoting mental health among disadvantaged and vulnerable populations. CLINICALTRIAL None

scholarly journals Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: A Systematic Literature Review of Prevention and Intervention Programs for Mental Health Difficulties in Children and Young People

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 280-305
Author(s):  
Emma Harris ◽  
Victoria Samuel
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Acceptance And Commitment Therapy ◽  
Psychological Flexibility ◽  
Mental Health Symptoms ◽  
Prevention And Intervention ◽  
Health Symptoms ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Commitment Therapy ◽  
Acceptance And Commitment ◽  
Mental Health Difficulties

BackgroundAcceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is increasingly being used to treat mental health difficulties, however there is a paucity of reviews concerning ACT with children.AimTo examine the literature about ACT interventions for child and adolescent mental well-being.MethodsSearches for articles reporting on ACT interventions to prevent/reduce child mental health difficulties were undertaken. Methodological quality was assessed and a narrative synthesis was used to summarize findings about mental health symptoms and psychological flexibility.ResultsTen articles were identified focusing on prevention and intervention for anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, anorexia nervosa, and trichotillomania. Most studies found that mental health symptoms reduced following an ACT intervention and psychological flexibility increased. However, findings indicate that other active interventions also led to the same changes.ConclusionsACT is a promising intervention for adolescent mental health, although further research is needed to establish whether reductions in mental health symptoms are due to an increase in psychological flexibility.

scholarly journals ACTyourCHANGE Study Protocol. The Promotion of Healthy Lifestyle for Obese Patients with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy provided with A Modular Approach.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Guerrini Usubini ◽  
Roberto Cattivelli ◽  
Emanuele Giusti ◽  
Francesco Vailati Riboni ◽  
Giorgia Varallo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Acceptance And Commitment Therapy ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
Behavioral Change ◽  
Healthy Lifestyle ◽  
Psychological Flexibility ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Obese Patients ◽  
Commitment Therapy ◽  
Acceptance And Commitment ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) resulted to be efficacious in promoting the core process of Psychological Flexibility, a key ability related to physical and psychological health outcomes. Despite evidence-based ACT protocols were applied successfully in different contexts, including the promotion of long-standing behavioral change, the impact of the single processes in the psychological flexibility model remains unclear. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the efficacy of a Focused-ACT intervention for the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle, by separating and evaluating the impact of single core processes targeted into a modular intervention on the maintenance of healthy lifestyle. Methods: An individually randomized group treatment trial will be conducted. 150 adult obese patients who are attending a four-week medically-based multidisciplinary rehabilitation of weight loss will be randomly allocated into three groups: Module Engage, Module Openness, and Module Awareness. At the beginning (Time 0) and at the end of the intervention (Time 1), at six months (Time2) and one year (Time 3) follow-up weight and height will be recorder and participants will complete the Psychological General Well Being Inventory(PGWBI), the Outcome Questionnaire-45.2 (OQ-45.2), the Brief Values Inventory (BVI), the Committed Action Questionnaire (CAQ), the Italian-Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (I-CFQ), the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ II) and the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Repeated measures 3 (conditions) x 4 (times) will be assessed to examine differences between three groups within four times on both general outcomes measure of weight, BMI, PGWBI and OQ-45.2, and FACT processes targeted during the interventions.Discussion: By providing additional evidence supporting the relevance of modular transdiagnostic interventions in clinical practice and the use of Process-Based Therapy, this study will contribute toclarify which mechanisms are involved in a generalizable lifestyle behavioral change intervention. Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Registration number: NCT04474509 Date: July, 4 2020 https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04474509

scholarly journals Preliminary Validation of a Chinese Version of the Comprehensive Assessment of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Processes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Chen ◽  
Houyuan Luo ◽  
Shujuan Wang ◽  
Xiaoyu Bai ◽  
Zhuohong Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Psychometric Properties ◽  
Acceptance And Commitment Therapy ◽  
Clinical Sample ◽  
Psychological Flexibility ◽  
Comprehensive Assessment ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Chinese Version ◽  
Commitment Therapy ◽  
Acceptance And Commitment

Abstract Civil servants are bridges that connect the general public and the government in China. Because their mental health may influence the rise and fall of the country, it is important to study their mental health and living conditions. The Comprehensive Assessment of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Processes (CompACT) is a general measure of ACT processes and reflects individual psychological flexibility. We investigated the psychometric properties of CompACT in a non-clinical sample of civil servants. The Chinese CompACT demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach α = 0.87) and reliability (Guttman split-half coefficient = 0.69). Confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the three-factor model. Our findings suggest that the Chinese version of the CompACT has acceptable psychometric properties and is a valid instrument for the assessment of psychological flexibility.

The Relationships Between Psychological Flexibility, Self-Compassion, and Emotional Well-Being

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma-Jane Marshall ◽  
Robert N. Brockman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Treatment Outcomes ◽  
Acceptance And Commitment Therapy ◽  
Psychological Flexibility ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Self Compassion ◽  
Acceptance And Commitment ◽  
Wave Models

Despite theoretical overlap between self-compassion and psychological flexibility, empirical links between these constructs is limited. This study examined the relationships between psychological flexibility, self-compassion, and emotional well-being to add to the literature on understanding the importance of self-compassion as a possible contributor to mental health, adding support to continuing development of compassion-based therapies. Relationships among these constructs were explored using survey data from a sample of 144 university psychology students (110 females and 34 males, aged 17–60 years). Self-compassion was significantly correlated with psychological flexibility processes, including mindful acceptance, defusion, and emotional well-being. Regression analyses indicated that self-compassion predicts significant unique variance above and beyond psychological flexibility across various indices of emotional well-being. These findings support the association between psychological flexibility, self-compassion, and emotional well-being, with implications for 3rd-wave models of therapy, including acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and compassion-based approaches. Therapies incorporating compassion processes may potentially lead to improved treatment outcomes.

Understanding and promoting students’ well-being and performance in university studies – effects of a 7-week Acceptance and Commitment Therapy based course (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henna Asikainen ◽  
Nina Katajavuori ◽  
Kirsikka Kaipainen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
University Students ◽  
Acceptance And Commitment Therapy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Pharmacy Students ◽  
Reflective Journal ◽  
Reflective Journals ◽  
Commitment Therapy ◽  
Acceptance And Commitment ◽  
And Performance

BACKGROUND Internationally there have been many studies showing that the number of university students suffering from mental illness is growing and this problem should be addressed OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to examine 41 pharmacy students’ experiences of a small Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) -based intervention that was implemented as a 7-week course with weekly online modules. METHODS Students’ well-being, experiences of stress, organised studying and psychological flexibility were measured with questionnaires at the beginning and end of the course. Students’ experiences of the effectiveness of the course and were analysed from open-ended responses and a reflective journal. RESULTS The results show that students’ well-being and ability to manage time and effort increased during the course(p≤0.003). In their reflective journals, students described how their ability to manage stress in their studies, cope with their thoughts and feelings, focus on the things that are more important to them, and manage their time in studying and their well-being had improved. CONCLUSIONS This study showed that it is possible to foster students’ well-being in their studies. More research is needed to identify the long-lasting effects of these kind of interventions.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document