Effects of an online group program based on acceptance and commitment therapy for young employees on well-being: single-case A-B design.

Objectives: This study examined the effects of an online group program based on acceptance and commitment therapy for young employees on employee well-being.

Methods: Using a single-case A-B design, this study implemented a program that spanned three 90-min sessions among 24 employees of a Japanese company, who were up to 3 years after graduation from university or postgraduate studies. The baseline (times 1-5) phase was conducted across 15 days, followed by the intervention, which was conducted over 16 days. The intervention (times 6-10) phase was conducted over 35 days following session 1.

Results: Fourteen participants met the inclusion criteria. A hierarchical Bayesian model indicated that the hypotheses were not supported in terms of the primary outcome of well-being and process outcome of psychological inflexibility of 10 employees because the credible interval included 0 (well-being: expected a posteriori estimation [EAP] 0.22; 95% credible interval, -0.31 to 0.81; Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II: EAP -2.20; 95% credible interval, -5.60 to 1.31). Tau-U for well-being varied from -0.56 to 0.84 among the participants. Similarly, for the secondary outcomes of 13 employees, the hypotheses were not supported for work performance, work engagement, and stress reaction (World Health Organization Health and Work Performance Questionnaire: EAP -0.32; 95% credible interval, -1.22 to 0.57; Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-3: EAP -0.08; 95% credible interval, -0.47 to 0.34; stress reaction: EAP -0.49; 95% credible interval, -3.76 to 2.66).

Conclusions: The online group program implemented in this study did not improve employee well-being.

Trial registration: The study protocol was registered with the University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry (ID: UMIN000042912).