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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1485836
This article is part of the Research Topic Mental Health of Vulnerable Groups: Predictors, Mechanisms, and Interventions View all 9 articles

Effects of a flexibly delivered group-based acceptance and commitment therapy on reducing stress and enhancing psychological well-being in parents of schoolage children during the COVID-19 pandemic: A quasi-experimental study

Provisionally accepted
Yim Wah Mak Yim Wah Mak 1*Doris YP Leung Doris YP Leung 1Xuelin Zhang Xuelin Zhang 1Joyce Chung Joyce Chung 1Petsy SY Chow Petsy SY Chow 2Jiayin Ruan Jiayin Ruan 1Wing Fai Yeung Wing Fai Yeung 1
  • 1 School of Nursing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, SAR China
  • 2 Mental Health Services, Christian Family Service Centre, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China

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

    The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted psychological well-being of parents, particularly those with school-age children. This quasi-experimental study evaluated the overall effectiveness of a group-based acceptance and commitment therapy, delivered flexibly through in-person or online videoconferencing sessions, on reducing parental stress and improving psychological well-being, while also evaluating the moderating role of delivery methods during COVID-19 pandemic. The study included 250 parents, with an average age of 40.90 years and mostly women. The average age of their youngest child was 7.68 years. Consistent with COVID-19 related restrictions and participants' preferences, 109 parents participated in online sessions, while 141 attended face-to-face sessions. Results showed significant small-to-medium improvements in various outcome variables after the intervention, including parental stress (Cohen's d = 0.26), general stress (d = 0.18), depressive symptoms (d = 0.18), mental health literacy (d = 0.43), subjective wellbeing (d = 0.25), and psychological flexibility (d = 0.28). Notably, the online videoconferencing delivery format was found to be as effective as the face-to-face format on these outcomes, with similar session attendance rates. The findings highlight the potential of the group-based acceptance and commitment therapy to alleviate stress and improve psychological well-being in parents of school-age children, regardless of delivery methods, especially during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. However, due to limitations of this study design, caution is needed when interpreting the overall effects of the group-based ACT on parent outcomes as well as the moderating role of delivery methods. Further research is needed to validate these findings and explore the nuances of delivery methods in similar real-world situations.

    Keywords: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, COVID-19, psychological distress, Parental stress, Well-being, Real-world settings

    Received: 25 Aug 2024; Accepted: 28 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Mak, Leung, Zhang, Chung, Chow, Ruan and Yeung. 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: Yim Wah Mak, School of Nursing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, SAR China

    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.