Acceptance and Mindfulness processes as predictors of stigma among substance abuse counselors

To this point, Contextual Behavioral Science has explored by means of cross-sectional research, some of the contextual factors affecting stigmatizing attitudes and behaviors (Masuda, 2008). In this particular study, we were interested in stigmatizing attitudes and behaviors of addictions counselors toward their own clients and whether these are related to ACT processes, with the hypotheses that if significant relationships were discovered, this would contribute to set the stage for the development of ACT-based interventions for stigma in counselors. In this paper, we report on the relationship between ACT processes and stigma in a sample of 699 addiction counselors recruited as part of a larger randomized trial on ACT and multicultural interventions. We measured ACT processes with the Personal Values Questionnaire (PVQ, Blackledge and Ciarrochi, 2005), and the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II, Hayes, 2004); with stigma measured by the Community Attitudes towards Substance Abusers Scale (CASA, Hayes, 2004). Regression analyses indicate that ACT processes significantly predict scores on the CASA, suggesting that since ACT interventions have shown to reduce the impact of those processes, ACT might be a promising intervention for stigma in addictions counselors.