Mental Health Promotion as a New Goal in Public Mental Health Care: A Randomized Controlled Trial of an Intervention Enhancing Psychological Flexibility

Objectives We assessed whether an intervention based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and mindfulness was successful in promoting positive mental health by enhancing psychological flexibility Methods Participants were 93 adults with mild to moderate psychological distress They were randomly assigned to the group intervention (n=49) or to a waiting list control group (n=44) Participants completed measures before and after the intervention as well as 3 months later at follow up to assess mental health in terms of emotional psychological and social well being (Mental Health Continuum-Short Form) as well as psychological flexibility (i e acceptance of present experiences and value based behavior Acceptance and Action Questionnaire II) Results Regression analyses showed that compared with the participants on the waiting list participants in the ACT and mindfulness intervention had greater emotional and psychological well being after the intervention and also greater psychological flexibility at follow up Mediational analyses showed that the enhancement of psychological flexibility during the intervention mediated the effects of the intervention on positive mental health Conclusions The intervention is effective in improving positive mental health by stimulating skills of acceptance and value based action (Am J Public Health 2010 100 2372-2378 doi 10 2105/AJPH 2010 196196)