The DOI matches its Crossref record; 52 of the 55 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Acceptance and commitment therapy as a web-based intervention for depressive symptoms: Randomised controlled trial
Open accessAbstract
Background: Depression is a highly prevalent disorder, causing a large burden of disease and substantial economic costs. Web-based self-help interventions seem promising in promoting mental health. Aims: To compare the efficacy of a guided web-based intervention based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) with an active control (expressive writing) and a waiting-list control condition (Netherlands Trial Register NTR1296). Method: Adults with depressive symptoms from the general population were randomised to ACT (n= 82), expressive writing (n= 67) or waiting-list control (n= 87). The main outcome was reduction in depressive symptoms assessed with the Center for Epidemiological Studies – Depression scale. Results: Significant reductions in depressive symptoms were found following the ACT intervention, compared with the control group (Cohen's d= 0.56) and the expressive writing intervention (d= 0.36). The effects were sustained at 6-month and 12-month follow-up. Conclusions: Acceptance and commitment therapy as a web-based public mental health intervention for adults with depressive symptoms can be effective and applicable.
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“Assuming an attrition rate of 18% as in previous trials evaluating the long-term effectiveness of ACT [45, 80], the current sample-size allows us to detect small to moderate effect sizes (i.e., d = 0.365) with a power of 80% at the planned follow-up assessment [81].”
From Effectiveness of a guided ACT-based self-help resilience training for depressive symptoms during pregnancy: Study protocol of a randomized controlled trial embedded in a prospective cohort. (2020) · cites this paper as [80]
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Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“online ACT interventions or ACT self-help books could be used in suspected patients of COVID-19, which were proven to improve psychological flexibility in other populations (Pots et al., 2016; Wersebe et al., 2018).”
From Is psychological flexibility a mediator between perceived stress and general anxiety or depression among suspected patients of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19)? (2021) · cites this paper as Pots et al., 2016
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“the online module “Living to the Full” [28], which was proven to be effective in reducing psychological distress in adults [29, 30].”
From Cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy intervention vs. a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy intervention for older adults with anxiety symptoms: A randomized controlled trial (2022) · cites this paper as [30]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“These results are largely inconsistent with recent research among non-clinical samples, which reported the efficacy of ACT self-help interventions in significantly improving depression, anxiety and stress in distressed participants compared to wait-list (Jeffcoat & Hayes, 2012; Pots et al., 2016).”
From A randomised controlled trial of brief web-based acceptance and commitment Therapy on the general mental health, depression, anxiety and stress of college Students (2022) · cites this paper as Pots et al., 2016
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“The effect sizes at post-treatment were small to moderate and ranged from 0.35 to 0.56.”
From How and for whom does web-based acceptance and commitment therapy work? Mediation and moderation analyses of web-based ACT for depressive symptoms (2016) · cites this paper as [11]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Overall, the results showed that on the short term the web-based ACT intervention was significantly more effective to both control conditions”
From How and for whom does web-based acceptance and commitment therapy work? Mediation and moderation analyses of web-based ACT for depressive symptoms (2016) · cites this paper as [11]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“However, at follow-up there were no significant differences between the web-based ACT intervention and the web-based EW intervention or the WLC.”
From How and for whom does web-based acceptance and commitment therapy work? Mediation and moderation analyses of web-based ACT for depressive symptoms (2016) · cites this paper as [11]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“ACT-based interventions have been explored in a self-directed format in various contexts, demonstrating its potential acceptance across therapeutic formats [41].”
From Acceptance and commitment therapy adapted for women with infertility: a pilot study of the Infertility ACTion program. (2024) · cites this paper as [41]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“The equality of therapy hours between conditions was good in the 3 studies that had an active treatment control [44,53,55].”
From Internet-Delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Anxiety Treatment: Systematic Review. (2019) · cites this paper as [53]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Just over half of the studies (60%, 12/20) randomly assigned participants to treatment conditions, with 6 of these also randomly assigning therapists [38,39,44,53-55].”
From Internet-Delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Anxiety Treatment: Systematic Review. (2019) · cites this paper as [53]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Furthermore, the highest quality RCT evidence in this review revealed that iACT was just as efficacious as iCBT [44], and expressive writing [53,55].”
From Internet-Delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Anxiety Treatment: Systematic Review. (2019) · cites this paper as [53]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“The effectiveness of this web-based intervention (both with and without support from a counselor) in reducing depression and associated anxiety in adults has been established in RCTs [21, 40, 41, 61].”
From An Internet-based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy intervention for older adults with anxiety complaints: study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial. (2018) · cites this paper as [41]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Of the 10 studies included, 4 (40%) were judged to be of low risk of bias [29,46,49,52], one (10%) of high risk [36], and an unclear risk of bias was assigned to 5 (50%) [45,47,48,50,51] of the included studies.”
From Effectiveness of Web-Delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Relation to Mental Health and Well-Being: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. (2016) · cites this paper as [52]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“This module (an adaptation of the similarly titled self-help book [43,44]) was proven effective in reducing distress and depression in earlier studies [45,46].”
From Blended Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Versus Face-to-face Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Older Adults With Anxiety Symptoms in Primary Care: Pragmatic Single-blind Cluster Randomized Trial. (2021) · cites this paper as [46]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“The findings corroborate post-treatment outcomes of recent studies among non-clinical populations, which showed the efficacy of ACT selfhelp interventions in increasing general mental health compared to a wait-list condition (Jeffcoat & Hayes, 2012; Levin et al., 2014; Pots et al., 2016).”
From A randomised controlled trial of brief web-based acceptance and commitment Therapy on the general mental health, depression, anxiety and stress of college Students (2022) · cites this paper as Pots et al., 2016
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Since the publication of these two meta-analyses, both of which included data collected up until November 2013, a number of RCTs investigating the effectiveness of online MBIs have appeared in the scientific literature (e.g. Dowd et al., 2015; Pots et al., 2016; Trompetter et al., 2014; Zernicke et al., 2014).”
From Effectiveness of online mindfulness-based interventions in improving mental health: A review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (2016) · cites this paper as Pots et al., 2016
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“This is considered important, because multiple trials have shown that effects of online MBIs are maintained up to one year after baseline (e.g. Hesser et al., 2012; Pots et al., 2016).”
From Effectiveness of online mindfulness-based interventions in improving mental health: A review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (2016) · cites this paper as Pots et al., 2016
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“In addition, there is growing evidence for the efficacy of web-based ACT interventions [6–11].”
From How and for whom does web-based acceptance and commitment therapy work? Mediation and moderation analyses of web-based ACT for depressive symptoms (2016) · cites this paper as [11]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Also, as there was no restricted access to care for the WLC, non-study treatment was checked but revealed no difference between the conditions.”
From How and for whom does web-based acceptance and commitment therapy work? Mediation and moderation analyses of web-based ACT for depressive symptoms (2016) · cites this paper as [11]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“The effects of the web-based ACT intervention were maintained at 6- and 12-month follow up.”
From How and for whom does web-based acceptance and commitment therapy work? Mediation and moderation analyses of web-based ACT for depressive symptoms (2016) · cites this paper as [11]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Additionally, the web-based EW condition showed significant improvement compared with the WLC from baseline to follow-up (T0 to T2) for psychological flexibility and some facets of mindfulness, and no significant improvement on other outcome measures.”
From How and for whom does web-based acceptance and commitment therapy work? Mediation and moderation analyses of web-based ACT for depressive symptoms (2016) · cites this paper as [11]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“In the previously reported results from the RCT [11], we found that the web-based ACT intervention had similar effects on depressive symptoms and secondary measures after 6 and 12 months compared to the EW intervention.”
From How and for whom does web-based acceptance and commitment therapy work? Mediation and moderation analyses of web-based ACT for depressive symptoms (2016) · cites this paper as [11]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Internet interventions based on ACT have also been shown to be effective for adults with depressive and anxiety symptoms [40, 41].”
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Furthermore, Pots et al. reported an effect size of 0.41 for web-based ACT (with e-mail support) compared to an active control group (expressive writing) [41].”
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Five interventions were primarily designed to manage and reduce depression and depressive symptoms [36,45,46,51,52]”
From Effectiveness of Web-Delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Relation to Mental Health and Well-Being: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. (2016) · cites this paper as [52]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Email reminders were included in 4 RCTs [46-48,52]”
From Effectiveness of Web-Delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Relation to Mental Health and Well-Being: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. (2016) · cites this paper as [52]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Four interventions [47,48,50,52] specified that they included stakeholders in the design and development process to address adherence, or specifically employed persuasive design features in a bid to encourage adherence and engagement.”
From Effectiveness of Web-Delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Relation to Mental Health and Well-Being: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. (2016) · cites this paper as [52]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“In the instance where more than one comparator group data was available [29,50,52] we compared against the active treatment.”
From Effectiveness of Web-Delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Relation to Mental Health and Well-Being: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. (2016) · cites this paper as [52]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Moreover, 18 studies directly targeted people with depressive symptoms [14,21,23-25,27,30-40].”
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Citations
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Flagged first, then by citations
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- 10.1037/0022-006X.68.3.438 · DOI · Paper page
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Metadata
- Authors
- Pots, W. T. M., Fledderus, M., Meulenbeek, P. A. M., ten Klooster, P. M., Schreurs, K. M. G., & Bohlmeijer, E. T.
- Affiliations
- University of Twente (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Pots, Wendy T. M.
- Venue
- British Journal of Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
- Published
- 2016-01
- Volume
- 208
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 69-77
- ISSN
- 0007-1250 (ISSN-L)
- 1472-1465
- OpenAlex
- W1098503608
- Semantic Scholar
- 761f5201f9ec716d4efcbfbcc93d35c2ceb8b2b7
- Cited by
- 133
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 6
- FWCI
- 20.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The British Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- University of Twente Research Information (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- University of Twente Research Information (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- acceptance and commitment therapy, online intervention, depressive symptoms, depression, self-help, expressive writing, public mental health, treatment efficacy, sustained effects
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Counseling, Depression, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Netherlands, Patient Compliance, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Logistic Models, Treatment Outcome, Internet, Young Adult, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
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