Systematic Review of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Individuals with Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Caregivers, and Staff
Abstract
The purpose of this review was to quantitatively synthesize studies using acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) with individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders (NNDs), their parents, and staff members that support them. Thirty studies published in peer-reviewed journals between 2006 and 2020 met inclusion criteria. They were reviewed and coded on variables associated with participants' characteristics, settings, dropouts, design type, ACT procedures and measures, social validity, treatment integrity, and main findings. The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), the revised Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials (RoB2) and the Risk of Bias in Nonrandomized Studies of Interventions (ROBINS-I) were applied to evaluate the quality of the studies. Results indicated that 20 studies used group designs and 10 studies used single-case designs. Participants with NNDs consisted predominantly of those with autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and learning disabilities. Group studies reported process and outcome measures exclusively; whereas, single-case studies also incorporated behavioral/direct measures. Overall, results showed mixed improvements across studies using indirect and direct measures. Lastly, quality assessment for group studies presented moderate or serious risk of bias and two single-case studies did not meet WWC evidence of effectiveness. Directions for future research and practice are discussed.
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Psychological flexibility and resilience are protective against parenting stress and depression in parents of autistic children.
“Both psychological flexibility and resilience are considered protective factors against parenting stress and depression among parents of autistic children (Fung et al., 2018;Garcia et al., 2022;Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).”
From Mindfulness and parenting stress among parents of autistic children: The mediation of resilience and psychological flexibility (2025) · cites this paper as Garcia et al., 2022
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Gibson Watt, T., Gillanders, D., Spiller, J. A., & Finucane, A. M. (2023) · Palliative Medicine · doi:10.1177/02692163231183101 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Garcia, Y., Keller-Collins, A., Andrews, M., Kurumiya, Y., Imlay, K., Umphrey, B., & Foster, E.
- Affiliations
- The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, IL, USA
- The Chicago School (US)
- Venue
- Behavior Modification
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2021-06-21
- Volume
- 46
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1236-1274
- ISSN
- 0145-4455 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-4167
- OpenAlex
- W3175308192
- Cited by
- 22
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 0.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Behavior Modification (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Behavioral and Psychological Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Keywords
- acceptance and commitment therapy, neurodevelopmental disorders, autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning disabilities, caregivers, workers, implementation fidelity, social validity, group therapy, single-case experimental design, risk of bias
- MeSH terms
- Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Humans, Caregivers, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Neurodevelopmental Disorders
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