Acceptance and commitment training: A review of the research
Abstract
There have been recent efforts forusing Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACTraining) to distinguish between Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) when applied in psychotherapeutic or counseling settings and ACTraining when applied within the scope of practice of Board Certified Behavior Analysts.Despite these efforts, identifying methodological and/or procedural differences within the literature is difficult. If differences exist, it may be useful to evaluate research that has explicitly evaluated the effectiveness of ACTraining. The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of studies that have evaluated the effectiveness of ACTraining using standards for quality indicators of experimental control, operational definitions of the independent and dependent variables, monitoring of treatment integrity, and risk for treatment inaccuracies. Results indicated the majority of studies lacked convincing evidence of experimental control, could not be replicated with the information provided, failed to collect treatment integrity data, and were at high risk for treatment inaccuracies.
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There is no standardized treatment protocol for ACT.
“As there is no standardized treatment protocol for ACT, programs are often developed, and previous studies are referenced for treatment materials.”
From A Scoping Review of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Higher Education (2024) · cites this paper as Cihon et al., 2021
Many published ACT studies lacked replicability.
“A second criticism that has been made against ACT research is that many published studies lacked replicability (Cihon et al., 2021).”
From A Scoping Review of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Higher Education (2024) · cites this paper as Cihon et al., 2021
Authors of ACT studies do not include enough information about the treatment program, making replication nearly impossible.
“However, authors do not include enough information about the treatment program, making it nearly impossible to replicate their findings (Cihon et al., 2021).”
From A Scoping Review of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Higher Education (2024) · cites this paper as Cihon et al., 2021
Acceptance and commitment training (ACTraining) has been frequently used in applied psychology domains such as work, school, sports, and performance psychology to promote well-being, improve performance, enhance injury rehabilitation/recovery adherence, and reduce burnout.
“acceptance and commitment training (ACTraining; Cihon et al., 2021) has been frequently used in other domains of applied psychology, such as work psychology, school psychology, sports, and performance psychology to promote”
From ASSESSING PSYCHOLOGICAL FLEXIBILITY: THE PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE CZECH TRANSLATION OF THE COMPACT QUESTIONNAIRE (2024) · cites this paper as Cihon et al., 2021
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“…in the number of studies evaluating ACT within behavior analytic journals (e.g., Enoch & Dixon, 2019; Paliliunas et al., 2018; Pingo et al., 2019; Twohig et al., 2007), we hope the results of this review will help guide behavior analysts navigating questions of research evidence, scope of…”
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“For instance, ACTraining has been offered as a viable approach for verbally competent clients (Dougher, 2002) as has the teaching interaction procedure (TIP; Cihon et al., 2017).”
Method
Flagged first, then by citations
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A Scoping Review of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Higher Education
Caimano, S., Malkin, A., Monroy, P., Horoky, D., & Kum, J. J. Y. (2024) · The Psychological Record · doi:10.1007/s40732-024-00586-0 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Department of Psychology, F. O. A., Ptáček, M., & Jelínek, M. (2024) · Ceskoslovenska Psychologie · doi:10.51561/cspsych.68.1.30 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
- Authors
- Cihon, J. H., Ferguson, J., Leaf, J. B., Milne, C. M., Leaf, R., & McEachin, J.
- Affiliations
- Endicott College (US)
- Research Department, Autism Partnership Foundation, Seal Beach, California
- Autism Partnership Foundation (US)
- Corresponding author
- Cihon, Joseph H.
- Venue
- European Journal of Behavior Analysis
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2021-01-31
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 275-295
- ISSN
- 1502-1149 (ISSN-L)
- 2377-729X
- OpenAlex
- W3128304446
- Cited by
- 9
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2
- FWCI
- 1.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- European Journal of Behavior Analysis (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Behavioral and Psychological Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Keywords
- acceptance and commitment training, acceptance and commitment therapy, behavior analysis, implementation fidelity, experimental control, research quality indicators, intervention fidelity, replication, effectiveness evaluation
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