ACBS Research Development Grant Scheme - 2018-2019 Awardees

Awards for 2018-2019:

Mary Lally, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology; Yor Garcia, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology; Amanda Mahoney, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology; and Tom Szabo, Florida Institute of Technology

The effects of defusion and values exercises on special education teacher’s measures of stress and committed actions.

Lay Summary

Special education teachers working with students with emotional and behavioral difficulties report higher rates of occupational stress, job - related stress, and attrition (Kokkinos & Davazoglou, 2009). Additionally, special education teachers working with students with emotional and behavioral difficulties are approximately six times more likely to the leave the classroom than other special education teachers (Lawerson & McKinnon, 1982, as cited in Biglan, Layton, Jones, Hankins, & Rusby 2013). Moreover, teachers report that working with children with autism and emotional difficulties present the most stress (Wisniewski & Gargiulo, 1997, as cited in Biglan et al., 2013). Therefore, there is a need for strategies that address student behaviors while decreasing teachers’ levels of stress. As such, A cceptance and Commitment Therapy ( ACT, Hayes, Strosahl, Wilson, 1999) ) training is one method that has demonstrated high acceptability when addressing private verbal behavior s in the classroom setting (Pistorello et al. , 2013). Similarly, Behavioral Skills Training (BST) research has demonstrated that it is an effective staff training procedure (Parsons, Rollyson, & Reid, 2012). Yet, there has been little research that examines the effects of BST plus ACT interventions on the overt behaviors of teachers and students. With that, the objectives of the proposed research are to determine if training in three ACT processes (committed actions, values, and defusion) increases overt values driven behaviors while reducing measures of stress among special education teachers. Additionally, the research will attempt to determine if ACT based training following BST results in increased treatment fidelity scores for guided compliance procedures implemented in the classroom setting.

 

Nima Golijani Moghaddam, DClinPsy, Ph.D., University of Lincoln, and Anna Tickle, DClinPsy, Framework Housing Association, Nottingham

ACT on homelessness and multiple complex needs: Contextually - adapted series of hermeneutic single - case efficacy designs

Lay Summary

In the UK, recent policy and service developments increasingly recognize the complex emotional and psychological needs of people experiencing homelessness. This population are typically not accessing mainstream psychological support services and can present challenges to such services – which are not configured to meet the needs of individuals who are socially - excluded, mult iply disadvantaged, and subject to unstable living conditions. It is therefore essential to embed psychological support within services that have established closer contact with people experiencing homelessness (e.g., supported housing services). However, our understanding of how best to provide psychological support within these services – i.e., what models or forms of intervention may be useful – is limited. There have been some reported instances of successful practice, but the quality of research has be en generally poor, preventing clear conclusions about whether/how interventions might work. The complexity and instability of work with this population demands that approaches to both intervention and research are suitably flexible and adaptable to dynamic individual circumstances. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) offers an evidence - based model for psychological intervention that is conceptually well - suited to working adaptively with people experiencing homelessness. To examine whether ACT can deliv er on its promise for this population, we need research strategies that are similarly adaptive and sensitive to context. We will therefore use a series of tailored single - case designs, drawing on quantitative and qualitative evidence from multiple sources, to investigate the efficacy of ACT for supporting people experiencing homelessness and multiple complex needs. We will make a valuable contribution to the evidence - base around ways of providing psychological support to people experiencing homelessness – an under - served population, with complex emotional and psychological needs that (unaddressed) can perpetuate homelessness and instability and contribute to poor health and functional outcomes. We will also provide a template approach for conducting Contex tual Behavioral Science research in challenging real - world environments.