Feasibility of an acceptance and commitment therapy adjunctive web-based program for counseling centers.
Open accessAbstract
Web-based adjunctive tools provide a promising method for addressing the challenges college counseling centers face in meeting the mental health needs of students. The current study tested an initial adjunctive prototype based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in a pre-post open trial with 30 counselors and 82 student clients across 4 counseling centers. Results indicated high ratings of program satisfaction and usability with counselors and students. The majority of students completed at least part of the program. Significant improvements were found across almost all outcome and ACT process measures with student clients. Improvements in student outcomes were predicted by both changes in psychological inflexibility and how often counselors discussed the program with students. Results are discussed in relation to support for and future development of a flexible, adjunctive ACT program for counseling centers.
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The two studies testing ACT as a transdiagnostic treatment found positive effects on depression and anxiety, but did not assess a broader range of problems.
“The two studies testing ACT as a transdiagnostic treatment found positive effects on depression and anxiety, but did not assess a broader range of problems (Levin et al., 2014;2015).”
From Web-Based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Mental Health Problems in College Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial (2017) · cites this paper as Levin et al., 2015
Three published studies have been conducted on web-based ACT for college students specifically.
“Three published studies have been conducted on web-based ACT for college students specifically (Chase et al., 2013;Levin et al., 2014;2015).”
From Web-Based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Mental Health Problems in College Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial (2017) · cites this paper as Levin et al., 2015
These studies found promising results suggesting web-based ACT may be acceptable and helpful to students for improving academic success, preventing mental health problems, and as an adjunctive treatment along with counseling.
“These studies found promising results suggesting web-based ACT may be acceptable and helpful to students for improving academic success (Chase et al., 2013), preventing mental health problems (Levin et al., 2014) and as an adjunctive treatment along with counseling (Levin et al., 2015).”
From Web-Based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Mental Health Problems in College Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial (2017) · cites this paper as Levin et al., 2015
10 articles were categorized as pre-post studies, including 8 as pre-post, one as a semi-experimental pre-post design with control group, and one as a pre-post open trial design.
“10 articles were categorized as prepost studies, including 8 as pre-post, one as using a semi-experimental method with a prepost design and control group (Googhari et al., 2022), and one as a pre-post open trial design (Levin et al., 2015).”
From A Scoping Review of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Higher Education (2024) · cites this paper as Levin et al., 2015
Three studies in particular had a high percentage of participants not completing the entire iACT program.
“Three studies in particular had a high percentage of participants not completing the entire program [38,48,56].”
From Internet-Delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Anxiety Treatment: Systematic Review. (2019) · cites this paper as [48]
Levin et al [48] had high system usability and treatment satisfaction ratings from program completers despite a high attrition rate.
“In contrast, Levin et al [48] had high system usability and treatment satisfaction ratings from program completers despite a high attrition rate.”
From Internet-Delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Anxiety Treatment: Systematic Review. (2019) · cites this paper as [48]
Results in 2 studies [47,48] were procured from online treatment using fewer ACT-based modules (2 to 3) than the other iACT studies (5 to 9).
“Results in 2 of these studies [47,48] were procured from online treatment using fewer ACT-based modules (2 to 3) than the other iACT studies (5 to 9).”
From Internet-Delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Anxiety Treatment: Systematic Review. (2019) · cites this paper as [48]
The studies by Kelson et al [46] and Levin et al [48] made use of single-group, uncontrolled open-trial designs.
“The studies by Kelson et al [46] and Levin et al [48] made use of single-group, uncontrolled open-trial designs.”
From Internet-Delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Anxiety Treatment: Systematic Review. (2019) · cites this paper as [48]
Several studies indicated that iACT can be efficacious for reducing anxiety symptoms in young adult university students with moderate-to-large effects.
“Several studies indicated that iACT can be efficacious for reducing anxiety symptoms in this population with moderate-to-large effects [46-48,50].”
From Internet-Delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Anxiety Treatment: Systematic Review. (2019) · cites this paper as [48]
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- Authors
- Levin, M. E., Pistorello, J., Hayes, S. C., Seeley, J. R., & Levin, C.
- Affiliations
- Utah State University (US)
- Contextual Change (United States) (US)
- Oregon Research Institute (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Counseling Psychology
- Published
- 2015-07
- Volume
- 62
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 529-536
- ISSN
- 0022-0167 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-2168
- OpenAlex
- W1722694286
- Cited by
- 47
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 6.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Counseling Psychology (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Digital Commons - USU (Utah State University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (R43AT006952)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Keywords
- acceptance and commitment therapy, adjunctive therapy, web-based program, college counseling centers, student mental health, psychological inflexibility, program feasibility, software usability, counselor-client communication, process indicators
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Mental Disorders, Counseling, Feasibility Studies, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Mental Health Services, Middle Aged, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Students, Universities, Internet, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
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