Benchmarks for Group Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Tools for Social Work Professionals

Purpose This article provides within-group effect size benchmarks for RCTs of group-based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for adults with anxiety and/or depression. Methods A systematic literature search of RCTs of the group-based ACT intervention was conducted following PRISMA guidelines. Articles were selected based on predetermined eligibility criteria. Pre/post within-group effect sizes were calculated using the Glass approach, adjusted using Hedges g, and aggregated to produce separate benchmarks for symptoms of depression and anxiety for ACT and the comparison/control group(s). Results Results indicate that the average within-group pre/post effect sizes for the group-based ACT intervention is .59 (95% CI 0.37-0.81) for anxiety and .73 (95% CI 0.56-0.89) for depression. Discussion These benchmarks may be used by social workers to evaluate the effectiveness of their group-based ACT intervention and to guide clinical decision making.