Skip to main content
ABCT 2024 58th Annual Convention Main banner
Psychology Tools Ad
Final Program


Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Presentation Icons
Recorded Session
Recorded Session
Ticketed Session
Ticketed Session
Back

Treatment - Mindfulness & Acceptance

(PS14-77) Outcomes of a Compassion-focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Pilot Study in a Community Sample

Sunday, November 17, 2024
10:30 AM – 11:30 AM EST
Location: Franklin Hall, Level 4, Marriott Downtown
Abstract Text: In recent years, public health officials have been increasingly considering loneliness and social isolation as pressing public health matters. The U.S. surgeon general recently described loneliness and social isolation as “profound threats to our health and well-being” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2023, p. 5). As self-criticism and shame impact the experience of loneliness (Thoresen et al., 2018; Wiseman, 1997), interventions targeting these processes may be effective at fostering greater connectedness and engagement between individuals and their communities. These processes merit particular attention, given how shame and self-criticism can be exacerbated by social and economic disparities (e.g., Carr et al., 2014; Johnson, 2020; Rostami & Jowkar, 2016). To this end, compassion-focused acceptance and commitment therapy (CF-ACT; Tirch et al., 2014) merges elements of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT: Hayes et al., 1999) and compassion-focused therapy (CFT) to target self-critical, self-shaming narratives that often overlook the roles of sociocultural factors, structural inequity, and human nature in the client’s experience of distress. This presentation expands upon and delves into data from a 2022 pilot study of the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary outcomes of the manualized CF-ACT protocol. In keeping with the study procedures outlined in Kleiman (2023), data from the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (Bond et al., 2011), Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), and Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form (SCS-SF; Raes et al., 2011) were examined through visual inspection for changes in level, slope, latency of change, and variability (Kazdin, 2011; Kratochwill et al., 2010). Visual inspection of weekly client data was completed in accordance with guidelines established by Kratochwill and colleagues (2010). In addition, conservative dual-criterion (CDC; Fisher et al., 2003; Swoboda et al., 2010) analyses were conducted to increase reliability of visual inspection. This protocol was implemented within a community clinic setting, enabling the research to directly benefit the local community and underscoring the importance of developing treatments that are accessible and applicable to the concerns and challenges of the community. This presentation will present updated results and themes that emerged during implementation, insights into strength and barriers of implementing the intervention in a community clinic setting, and overall treatment outcomes. The presentation will also consider the role of sociocultural and socioeconomic stressors on the utility of CF-ACT in fostering an accepting and self-compassionate perspective towards the client’s own experience and suffering.