A randomised worksite comparison of acceptance and commitment therapy and stress inoculation training

Abstract

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. In this comparative intervention study, 107 working individuals with above average levels of distress were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT; n = 37); stress inoculation training (SIT; n = 37); or a waitlist control group (n = 33). The interventions were delivered to small groups in the workplace via two half-day training sessions. ACT and SIT were found to be equally effective in reducing psychological distress across a three month assessment period. Mediation analysis indicated that the beneficial impact of ACT on mental health resulted from an increase in psychological flexibility rather than from a change in dysfunctional cognitive content. Contrary to hypothesis, a reduction in dysfunctional cognitions did not mediate Permanent repository link

The value of psychological flexibility: Examining psychological mechanisms underpinning a cognitive behavioural therapy intervention for burnout

“…Findings indicating that ACT led to significant improvements in employees' emotional burnout and strain, and that increases in psychological flexibility mediated the improvements observed in the exhaustion component of burnout, are consistent with both Psychological Mechanisms ACT theory (Hayes, 1987;Hayes et al, 1999), and ACT worksite intervention research (Bond & Bunce, 2000;Flaxman & Bond, 2010). Our findings thus lend support to the growing evidence base demonstrating the beneficial impact of increasing psychological flexibility on workers' mental health.…”

“…In addition to our predictions regarding improvements in emotional burnout and strain, it is important to consider the psychological mechanisms by which these changes may occur. As previously explained, research has indicated that psychological flexibility is the mechanism, or mediator, by which ACT interventions improve strain (Bond & Bunce, 2000;Flaxman & Bond, 2010); therefore, in the present study we may expect to find this same mediation effect. Since the emotional exhaustion component of burnout is often considered to be synonymous with strain (Maslach, 2003;Maslach et al, 2001), we may expect to find that increases in psychological flexibility also mediate improvements in this outcome.…”

“…Effects such as these have been found even after controlling for other widely researched, work-relevant individual characteristics, such as negative affectivity and locus of control (Bond & Bunce, 2003), emotional intelligence (Donaldson & Bond, 2004), and the Big Five personality traits (Bond, Hayes, Baer, Carpenter, Guenole, et al, 2011). Unlike personality traits, psychological flexibility, whilst stable over time (e.g., Bond & Bunce, 2003), is an individual characteristic that can also be enhanced, and research has shown that such enhancement can, in turn, improve work-related behaviour; for example, randomised controlled trials show that an increase in psychological flexibility is the mechanism, or mediator, by which ACT interventions improve general mental health (Bond & Bunce, 2000;Flaxman & Bond, 2010), and innovation potential (Bond & Bunce, 2000).…”

“…For example, research shows that coping and emotion regulation strategies appear to improve psychological health and hedonic functioning, because they enhance psychological flexibility (Kashden, Barrios, Forsyth, Steger, 2006); furthermore, Flaxman and Bond (2010) showed that cognitive behaviour therapy techniques that focus on cognitive reappraisal reduce Psychological Mechanisms psychological distress, in part, because those techniques improve psychological flexibility. It appears, then that psychological flexibility may be a general psychological process that regulates mental health and behavioural effectiveness; as a result, effective coping strategies (e.g., cognitive reappraisal) may produce their benefits, in part, as a result of improving psychological flexibility.…”

‘Feel the Feeling’: Psychological practitioners’ experience of acceptance and commitment therapy well-being training in the workplace

“…A contemporary cognitive and behavioural approach, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT said as a word rather than three letters), has a growing body of research indicating its effectiveness within the working population (Bond & Bunce, 2000;Flaxman & Bond, 2010b;Hayes et al, 2004).…”