A Scoping Review of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Higher Education

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.