Development and Evaluation of a Three-day Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-Based Resiliency Training Program for National Cancer Institute-Funded Investigators

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) reports declines in the size and retention of early career researchers. To address a growing need in training that fosters retention and success, we developed, implemented, and evaluated a virtual, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based, intensive, three-day workshop. This workshop focused on resiliency and leadership skills for early-career NCI-funded investigators conducting basic, translational, or clinical research. A multidisciplinary team of supportive oncology researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital developed a workshop focused on: (1) advanced research methods in oncology research; (2) leadership skills; and (3) resilience skills using an ACT framework. This workshop trained 91 early career investigators over five cohorts. Participants completed self-report measures at three time points: pre-course, 6 months, and 12 months for evaluation. Most participants were female (59.3%), White, and had a PhD. Of those who responded to the survey at 6 months follow-up (n = 80), the majority reported using acceptance skills (63.8%), values (67.5%), and cognitive defusion (60%). At 12 months follow-up (n = 77), 67.5% reported use of acceptance, 70.1% reported using values, and 51.9% used cognitive defusion. We developed a three-day workshop focused on resiliency training for NCI-funded, early career investigators using an ACT framework. The majority of participating investigators reported retention and utilization of ACT-based skills at 6- and 12-months post-workshop. While findings suggest that early career investigators can learn and retain ACT-based skills to enhance resilience, further research is needed to determine whether these skills contribute to long-term career sustainability.