Group acceptance and commitment therapy for promoting mental health in schools: a feasibility study

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Mental Health Intervention
• Adolescent Health

Background:

• Subclinical mental health issues are prevalent among adolescents.
• Secondary school settings offer opportunities for early intervention.
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a potential therapeutic approach for psychological distress.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a group ACT program for adolescents in Hong Kong.
• To assess improvements in psychological flexibility, resilience, stress, and depressive symptoms.
• To determine the feasibility of implementing ACT in a school-based setting.

Main Methods:

• A single-group, pretest-posttest, quasi-experimental design was employed.
• Four weekly 1.5-hour group ACT sessions were delivered to students with subclinical anxiety, depression, or stress.
• Validated self-report questionnaires assessed psychological flexibility, resilience, stress, depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, and sleep quality.

Main Results:

• Sixty-one students participated, with 86.9% attending at least three sessions.
• No significant improvements were found in psychological flexibility or resilience.
• Significant reductions in perceived stress (p = 0.003) and depressive symptoms (p = 0.036) were observed, with small-to-moderate effect sizes.

Conclusions:

• The school-based group ACT program is feasible for adolescents with subclinical mental health issues.
• The intervention effectively reduced stress and depressive symptoms in the target population.
• Further research may explore enhancing ACT's impact on psychological flexibility and resilience in schools.