City Research Online

Abstract

One hundred employees of a UK government department were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (1) a worksite, group-based, CBT intervention called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT; n = 43), which aimed to increase participants’ psychological flexibility; and, (2) a waitlist control group (control; n = 57). The ACT group received three half-day sessions of training spread over two and a half months. Data were collected at baseline (T1), at the beginning of the second (T2) and third (T3) workshops, and at six months follow-up (T4). Consistent with ACT theory, analyses revealed that, in comparison to the control group, a significant increase in psychological flexibility from T2 to T3 in the ACT group mediated the subsequent T2 to T4 decrease in emotional exhaustion in the ACT group. Consistent with a theory of emotional burnout development, this significant decrease in emotional exhaustion from T2 to T4 in the ACT group prevented the significant T3 to T4 increase in depersonalization seen in the control group. Strain also decreased from T2 to T3 in the ACT group, only, but no mediator of that improvement was identified. Discussion focuses on implications for theory and practice in the fields of ACT and emotional burnout.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Work & Stress: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2013.782157
Publisher Keywords:	Acceptance and commitment therapy, burnout, psychological flexibility
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Departments:	School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Psychology
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

Export

Downloads