A brief acceptance and commitment intervention for work‐related stress and burnout amongst frontline homelessness staff: A single case experimental design series

Abstract

Purpose Recent intervention research for burnout amongst those working in health and social care contexts has found acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) interventions to be of use but has provided less clarity on the role of psychological flexibility (a key ACT construct). This study further evaluated the usefulness of ACT for burnout and work‐engagement and assessed the role of psychological flexibility in contributing to therapeutic change. Procedure A nonconcurrent multiple‐baseline across‐participants single‐case experimental design was used. Four participants were recruited from a homelessness organization in the East Midlands, England. The ACT‐intervention was split into three modules to reflect the three aspects of the ACT triflex, and the sequence of delivery was randomized for each participant in order to test the relationship between these aspects. Findings Support was found for the ACT intervention reducing exhaustion and increasing work‐engagement. Psychological Flexibility increased in all participants and was temporally related to increases in other outcome variables in some instances. Delivery of the intervention focussed on any given aspect of the ACT triflex could increase different domains of psychological flexibility. Implications This study adds to the growing body of research in favour of ACT interventions for burnout and adds to the understanding of psychological flexibility as a mediating variable.

Implementing psychologically informed environments in homelessness services: a qualitative exploration of staff teams’ self-assessments

“…Given this and reference in the results to compassion fatigue, it is crucial to provide staff with access to evidence-based approaches that can reduce exhaustion and increase work engagement, e.g. the work of Reeve et al (2021), which has been adapted into a freely available online “ACT on Wellbeing” resource for anybody to access via www.pdunottingham.org. Additionally, the implementation of reflective practice and an open-door culture of management may further support attempts to increase staff's well-being.…”

How Does Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Reduce Burnout Among Academicians From Malaysian Research Universities? A Systematic Review

“…His findings revealed that Malaysian RU academicians generally experience above-average levels of burnout. In light of these findings, the present study proposes the utilization of ACT to address burnout among Malaysian RU academicians, as previous research has demonstrated its effectiveness in managing burnout in various populations (Hayes et al, 2004;Emery & Vandenberg, 2010;Lloyd et al, 2013;Frögéli et al, 2019;Puolakanaho et al, 2020;Reeve et al, 2021). However, it is worth noting that ACT is not commonly practiced in educational settings in Malaysia (Teoh & Yaakob, 2021).…”

Humble PIE: this is just the beginning

“…Specific individual interventions for homelessness staff have been researched (Reeve et al , 2021), but must only be part of “staff wellbeing” rhetoric. The homelessness sector needs to heed developing recognition of the importance of promoting “systemic” rather than individual resilience in the National Health Service to enhance the management of psychological distress amongst staff, both for the benefit of individual staff and also from a health economics perspective (The Mental Health Foundation et al , 2018).…”