Behavior analysts who study verbal behavior theorize that people derive relationships between stimuli - forming stimulus classes such that psychological functions transfer among stimuli and therefore affect behavior. Verbal processes are thought to play a role in cancer patients' behavioral flexibility. The current study examined if an analogue intervention produced changes in relations between health-relevant stimuli from pre- to post-test in patient and student samples. A matching-to-sample (MTS) task required participants to form three 4-member classes that included health, treatment, or neutral terms. Participants next listened to either an acceptance-based or a control-based rationale and therapy exercise, or a distracter task. Then, they were re-exposed to the MTS task. Latencies and accuracies for learning each class as well as between condition differences were examined. Finally, changes in ratings of stimuli from pre to post analogues were measured. Differences in stimuli ratings were seen in the student sample, reflecting transfer of function and some reduction in responsiveness to stimuli following intervention, but overall no learning performances are found. Discussion explores the consistency of the findings with acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) theory in light of the seemingly lack of findings.

Freely choosing a life direction, or flexible valuing, is a core component of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). Initial research suggests that valuing behavior may contribute to psychological well-being, but has been stymied by a lack of an efficient measure. The current study examined the psychometric characteristics of a new measure of flexible valuing, the Meta-Valuing Measure (MVM), in a sample of 532 undergraduates. Exploratory factors analysis revealed 3 orthogonal factors, Valuing (α = .94), Freedom from Values Conflict (α = .92), and Flexibility in Valuing (α = .73). The majority of expected relationships with other constructs were significant including those with measures of values, mindfulness, quality of life, experiential avoidance, and psychological distress.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious public health concern. Existing interventions for male IPV offenders (i.e., Duluth Model with CBT principles) have shown small-to-negligible effects in reducing future perpetration of violence and have high dropout rates. Offenders who fail to complete treatment, or are deemed to be at “high risk”, are sent to jail. Efficacious and acceptable interventions for incarcerated IPV offenders are needed. The objective of this dissertation study was to test the feasibility of implementing an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) skills group with incarcerated IPV offers. The ultimate goal of ACT is to help individuals make behavioral choices in the service of their values, despite the presence of unwanted internal experiences, through the use of acceptance and mindfulness skills. The specific aims of the study were: 1) to examine post-treatment effects in the targeted ACT skills (i.e., present-moment awareness, acceptance, defusion, experiential avoidance), internalizing symptoms, and externalizing behaviors; and to test whether treatment effects were moderated by IPV-related criminal history severity (IPV-CHS); 2) to explore participants’ perceptions of the group; and 3) to examine whether pre-treatment IPV-CHS predicted worse ACT skills and greater symptom severity at pre-treatment. A sample of 33 court-mandated IPV offenders who participated in the 1 month ACT skills group (12 sessions, delivered 3 times per week) and who completed self-report questionnaires at pre and post treatment was used to evaluate the first two aims. The sample used to evaluate aim three consisted of 58 participants who had completed either the ACT skills group or another treatment offered at the jail at the time (treatment-as-usual) and for whom pre-treatment data were available. Quantitative results revealed that ACT did not produce significant pre to post changes in any of the outcome measures (i.e., ACT skills, internalizing symptoms, and externalizing behaviors), that IPV-CHS did not reliably moderate treatment effects, and that IPV-CHS did not predict worse ACT skills or greater symptom severity at pre-treatment. Qualitative results, however, revealed that participants viewed the ACT treatment favorably, found the material useful, and felt accepted and understood by the facilitators. The present study provides evidence for the feasibility of administering a standardized ACT-based protocol within a correctional setting. It further demonstrated that incarcerated IPV offenders perceived ACT to be an acceptable and useful treatment approach. The quantitative data, however, do not support the widespread dissemination of this ACT protocol with incarcerated IPV offenders at this time. Future research should follow-up on these discrepant findings by testing this ACT protocol with a larger sample, randomizing into ACT versus control group, including multiple follow-up time points, collecting one-year recidivism data, and exploring the effects of longer treatment and alternate forms of delivery (e.g., combination of individual and group sessions). Strengths and limitations of the study, as well as additional recommendations and directions for future research, are discussed.

No description available.

Clinical perfectionism is characterized by rigidly pursuing unrealistically high standards on which self-worth is contingent and experiencing distress when these standards are not met. Because clinical perfectionism is associated with many psychological diagnoses, understanding how to treat it may help streamline available treatments. The aim of this dissertation was to test the effect of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), a cognitive-behavioral therapy, on 53 individuals with clinical perfectionism. Participants in the ACT group received 10 therapy sessions and those in the control group were on a waitlist for 14 weeks. The first study supported the effectiveness of ACT relative to the waitlist control group with respect to perfectionism severity, quality of life, and general symptom distress. The second study showed changes in psychological inflexibility and self-compassion explained improvements in quality of life and concern over mistakes, respectively. It also found a variable effect of baseline psychological inflexibility on response to treatment depending on the outcome tested. In contrast, average self-compassion was generally associated with better outcomes in ACT. Neurological results from the third study suggest receiving ACT was associated with greater cognitive efficiency while performing error-prone tasks and decreased responsivity to emotionally meaningful stimuli. In addition, changes in brain activation were not linked to changes in self-report outcomes. Collectively, this dissertation examined not only the efficacy of an intervention focused on a maladaptive behavioral pattern like clinical perfectionism but also how and for whom such a therapy works.

The purpose of this study was to add to the existing body of research supporting the efficacy of ACT in improving performance and psychological challenges athletes experience. Three collegiate women’s basketball players participated in the current study in a multiple baseline design across participants. Two of the three subjects received the ACT only condition and individualized ACT plus mindfulness (IACT+M) treatment conditions. Subject three entered the IACT+M condition directly following baseline. Free throws, Mikan drill and three-ball dribbling where the three skills being assessed as well as psychological flexibility using two the assessment tools. The results suggest that brief ACT interventions may be useful for improving practice performance for collegiate basketball players. Participant one had an average increase for free throws by M=12.9%, a M=5% increase in the Mikan drill, and M=3.3% increase in the three-ball drill. Participant two had an average increase of M=7.3% for free throws, M=1.8% increase in the Mikan drill and M=0.4% increase in the three-ball drill. Participant three had an average increase of M=13% for free throws, 1.8% increase in the Mikan drill and a M=2% increase in the three-ball drill.

The purpose of the current study is to evaluate whether ACT techniques, such as acceptance activities, has an impact on an individual’s delayed and/or probabilistic discounting behavior measured by discounting tasks and other self-reported measures related to eating behaviors and health. Participants in an intervention and control group completed a monetary food and disease delay discounting survey before and after completing either a brief ACT session or completing a control activity. Thirty-six undergraduates participated in the present study and a pre-, post-control groups design was utilized to evaluate the effects of the intervention. Independent t-tests were conducted, and the results of those analyses showed that ACT was no effective in decreasing discounting on the monetary food, and disease discounting survey pre-test AUC 0.9147 (SD=0.1295) and post-test survey AUC 0.8794 (SD=0.1737). There were no statistically significant changes for the ACT or control group Implications of these findings and future research are discussed. Keywords: ACT, discounting, obesity, students

The science of behavior analysis is most notably recognized for its work with individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and the development of language in individuals with and without ASD. As an extension of a behavior-analytic approach to language, Relational Frame Theory (RFT) posits that relating between stimuli is foundational for human language and cognition. This modern-day account of human verbal events also includes psychological distress, which is frequently experienced among family members of individuals with ASD. The effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which is derived from RFT, have been evaluated with caregivers of individuals with ASD and demonstrated empirical support. Despite all these advancements, researchers have not adequately considered cultural and linguistic factors in the provision of these approaches for diverse populations, such as Hispanics/Latinxs. Moreover, there is a paucity of research using such scientific approaches for caregivers and siblings of individuals with ASD. Considering that Hispanics/Latinxs are a growing population in the United States, behavior-analytic interventions should be culturally adapted. The purpose of this study was to culturally adapt treatments rooted in the science of human behavior specifically for Hispanic/Latinx families that care for a child with ASD. Specifically, sociocultural factors and Hispanic/Latinx cultural values were considered in the development of such interventions to promote the skill set and well-being of the family as a unit. In the first experiment, the evaluation of SPOP in transferring relational frames from Spanish to English in Hispanic/Latinx children with ASD was examined. Here, the language of instruction (i.e., English vs. Spanish) differed for participants, depending on their primary languages. SPOP demonstrated effectiveness for some relations with one participant, however, direct training was employed to teach correct relational responding. In the second experiment, the effects of culturally adapted ACT were evaluated on statements of psychological flexibility and inflexibility, and self-report measures for Spanish-speaking Hispanic/Latinx caregivers of children with ASD. Results demonstrated higher percentages of statements of psychological flexibility across all conditions, and a statistically significant difference in self-reported thought suppression post-treatment. Finally, the third experiment compared the effects of culturally adapted family-based ACT and non-culturally adapted non-family-based ACT on self-monitored committed actions and self-report measures for Hispanic/Latinx siblings of children with ASD. Results indicated statistically significant differences in reported committed actions before and after treatment, with changes in self-report measures post-treatment. Together, these experiments demonstrate the clinical and social significance of taking cultural and linguistic factors of diverse populations into consideration with behavior-analytic services.

PTSD is a mental health condition that affects many people over the course of their life (National Comorbidity Survey, 2005), including veterans (Litz & Schlenger, 2009). However, many do not experience clinical levels of distress and some experience posttraumatic growth (PTG) resulting from such an event (Tedeschi, Park, & Calhoun, 1998). The Psychological Flexibility Model, of which Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT; Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999) is based, may help explain these phenomena. The purpose of this study was to examine these relationships utilizing a measure simultaneously assessing psychological flexibility and inflexibility. It was hypothesized that psychologically inflexible behaviors would predict PTSD symptom severity, while flexible behaviors would predict PTG. Furthermore, each of psychological inflexibility and flexibility would account for unique variance in PTSD symptom severity and PTG, respectively. Finally, the domains of ACT were examined to assess the strength each component has in the maintenance of these experiences. Results indicated that both psychological inflexibility and flexibility predicted PTSD symptoms and PTG, respectively, and each predicted unique variance in these experiences. Of the individual components, cognitive fusion, experiential avoidance, inaction, and lack of contact with the present moment all contributed to PTSD symptom severity, while values clarity, lack of contact with the present moment, and present moment awareness contributed to PTG. These results suggest the psychological flexibility model overall is consistent with the experience of PTSD symptoms and the posttraumatic growth. Though further experimental methods are needed, the application of psychological flexibility through ACT could enhance PTSD treatments.

Trichotillomania is defined as recurrent pulling of one’s hair that results in distress and negative effects on general functioning and quality of life. Estimates of trichotillomania lifetime prevalence generally range from approximately 1% to 3% and it is likely as common as disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and agoraphobia. Yet, quality treatment for trichotillomania is often difficult to find as many mental health professionals are uninformed about the disorder and its treatment. Moreover, mental health services in general are inaccessible to many with estimates suggesting that 96.5 million people do not have access to adequate services. The use of telepsychology has been an effective method for disseminating treatment services for a variety of mental health conditions. However, no research has examined the effectiveness of telepsychology to treat trichotillomania. The current study reports the results of a randomized clinical trial of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Enhanced Behavior Therapy for the treatment of trichotillomania delivered by way of telepsychology. The study compared an active treatment condition (n = 12) to a waitlist control condition (n = 10). Results showed significant reductions in hair pulling severity from pre- to post-treatment compared to the waitlist condition. Participants in the waitlist condition received the same treatment as participants in the treatment condition following the waitlist period. All participants were then combined to examine overall treatment effects from pre-treatment to a 12-week follow-up. The effect of treatment on hair pulling severity was still significant at follow-up, however the effect was not as strong as at post-treatment. Conversely, the effect on quality of life was maintained and even increased following post-treatment. Additional measures of psychological flexibility, perceived shame, and valued action also saw significant changes from pre-treatment to follow-up. The findings demonstrate that telepsychology is a viable option to disseminate treatment for trichotillomania. Implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.