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A Scoping Review of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Higher Education

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Abstract

Acceptance and commitment therapy/training (ACT) is a transdiagnostic intervention that holds promise in improving well-being across a variety of contexts and modalities of application. The current scoping review aims to examine the literature on the use of ACT interventions in higher education. Such interventions target aspects of student well-being (e.g., depression, anxiety, stress, life satisfaction, flexibility), academic outcomes, and knowledge of ACT processes. This scoping review includes 34 peer-reviewed empirical research articles, located across multiple databases, that applied ACT interventions with students enrolled in higher education. We found that online and in-person interventions were both widely used and were found to be effective at increasing both academic and well-being outcomes. Though these outcomes are promising, nearly half of the articles reviewed provided insufficient detail to allow for replication and reported scant demographic details. Strengths, limitations, and directions for future research involving ACT interventions in higher education are discussed, in the interest of further aligning research with the ACBS Task Force recommendations, and most important, supporting students.

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Data Availability

Data collected can be found in the supplementary materials attached herein.

Notes

  1. Variations of the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ) were used across studies [AAQ (e.g., Hayes & Strosahl, 2004; Bond & Bunce, 2003); AAQ-II (Bond et al., 2011); Chinese version of AAQ–II (Zhang et al., 2014)], they will all be referred to as AAQ for simplicity, given their similarity and construct measured.

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Funding

This research was funded by a Social Action Project grant from the Faculty of Education at Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.

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  1. Faculty of Education, Western University, 1137 Western Road, London, Ontario, N6G 1G7, Canada

    Sarah Caimano, Albert Malkin, Patricia Monroy, Denise Horoky & Jina J. Y. Kum

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  1. Sarah Caimano
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  2. Albert Malkin
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  3. Patricia Monroy
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  4. Denise Horoky
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Correspondence to Albert Malkin.

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We thank Aly Moscovitz for her assistance throughout the data extraction process of this review.

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Caimano, S., Malkin, A., Monroy, P. et al. A Scoping Review of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Higher Education. Psychol Rec 74, 101–132 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-024-00586-0

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