The Online Strength-Informed Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Among COVID-19-Affected Adolescents

Wenjie Duan; Yansi Kong; He Bu; Qiujie Guan; Zheng Chen; Qiansheng Luo; Jing Zhang

doi:10.1177/10497315211067270

The Online Strength-Informed Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Among COVID-19-Affected Adolescents

Res Soc Work Pract. 2022 May;32(4):465-474. doi: 10.1177/10497315211067270.

Authors

Wenjie Duan¹, Yansi Kong¹, He Bu², Qiujie Guan³, Zheng Chen⁴, Qiansheng Luo⁵, Jing Zhang⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Social and Public Administration, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China.
² Department of Social & Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
³ School of Social Development and Public Policy, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Institute of Education, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
⁵ Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone Huangling Primary School, Wuhan, China.

Abstract

Purpose: This study develops and investigates the changes in anxiety symptoms and quality of life (QoL) among participants of the online Strength-informed Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (SACT) across three tests.

Methods: A small-scale, quasi-experiment with no control group was conducted. Repeated-measures analysis was employed to assess the changes of the three tests, which were the pre-experimental, post-test, and 3-month follow-up test. A total of 47 adolescents (ages 10-12) completed the 45-min intervention that lasted 10 weeks.

Results: Compared with the pre-experimental, the post-test indicated significant anxiety symptoms reduction but not a statistically significant increase in QoL. The 3-month follow-up test indicated reduced anxiety symptoms and improved QoL compared with the pre-experimental. The with-in subject changes were substantial.

Conclusions: The online SACT is a promising model to reduce anxiety symptoms and promote QoL among adolescents during the current COVID-19 pandemic, which show both short- and long-term benefit to the participants.

Keywords: COVID-19; adolescent; anxiety symptoms; quality of life; strength-informed act.