Skip to main content

BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychology for Clinical Settings
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1415212

Functional Assertiveness with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Employees Returning to Work: A Preliminary Investigation

Provisionally accepted
Daisuke Ito Daisuke Ito 1*Yushun Okabe Yushun Okabe 2Aya Nobushige Aya Nobushige 3Seiko Saito Seiko Saito 4Yoshinari Takahashi Yoshinari Takahashi 5
  • 1 Hyogo University of Teacher Education, Kato, Japan
  • 2 The Joint Graduate School (Ph.D. Program) in Science of School Education Hyogo University of Teacher Education, Hyogo, Japan
  • 3 LITALICO Partners Inc, Tokyo, Japan
  • 4 Utsumi Mental Clinic, Nishinomiya, Japan
  • 5 Tanimachi Central stress care clinic, Osaka, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Owing to the ongoing global mental health crisis, providing support for employees returning to work after a mental health leave has become a crucial issue. This study aimed to preliminarily examine the efficacy of a functional assertiveness training program incorporating acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in a pilot study involving individuals who had taken a leave of absence due to mental health problems. As part of the program, eight group sessions were offered to these individuals in a group format while they attended an outpatient psychiatric clinic. The effectiveness of the program was assessed in terms of mindfulness, psychological flexibility, functional assertiveness, and difficulty in returning to work. 29 participants took part in the program, and 28 participants completed it. A paired t-test and effect size analysis (Cohen's d) were conducted using data from 26 participants; two participants were excluded from the analysis due to post-test data was not collected. The results showed an increase in participants' mindfulness (observing, non-reactivity and non-judging), psychological flexibility, and functional assertiveness increased and their sense of difficulty in returning to work (especially difficulties arising from workplace relationships) decreased after the intervention. Although the lack of a control group makes it difficult to draw definitive conclusions, the results suggest that a functional assertiveness training program incorporating ACT may be beneficial for employees on leave due to mental health issues in returning to work.

    Keywords: functional assertiveness, Rework program, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Pilot Study, Preliminary research

    Received: 10 Apr 2024; Accepted: 09 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Ito, Okabe, Nobushige, Saito and Takahashi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Daisuke Ito, Hyogo University of Teacher Education, Kato, Japan

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.