ACT for staff with long-term health conditions working in health and social care: A pilot group

The Humber & North Yorkshire Resilience Hub provided a psychological service for staff working in health and social care across this region. A key issue identified within this population was the impact of long-term health conditions on psychological wellbeing. To address this, a group based intervention using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) was piloted with five staff members. The efficacy of the group was considered through comparison of pre-and post-group scores on the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire, Second Edition (AAQ-II; Bond etc al., 2011) the PHQ-9 (Kroenke et al., 2001) and GAD-7 (Spitzer et al., 2006). A reduction in scores was evident across all measures following the group, indicating positive changes in attendees’ wellbeing. Additionally, qualitative feedback suggested positive experiences from group members, including reduced feelings of isolation. Limitations of the evaluation are considered, along with potential implications of the findings.