This article focuses on the effectiveness of using Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) with older adults, specifically targeting anxiety and depression, using a meta-analytic approach.
Key findings:
- ACT has previously shown promising results in improving mental health in adults and those with comorbid conditions relevant to an older adult population; however, the application to older adults is not well-evidenced.
- 6 studies met criteria for the meta-analysis, with 7 studies being included in the overall systematic review
- Depressive symptoms: ACT had a small but significant effect in reducing depressive symptoms (SMD = -0.22; 95% CI: -0.38 to -0.06; p < 0.001) based on data from 576 older adults
- Anxiety symptoms: ACT showed a small but non-significant effect in reducing anxiety symptoms with very low-quality evidence.
- This review highlights issues with study methodological quality. Quality ratings are low and very low for depression and anxiety respectively
Recommendations for practice
- There is still little, good quality, evidence for the application of ACT in older people
- It may be that older adults require some adjustments that are not yet well-researched, include mode of delivery
- The lack of use of exposure in some of the ACT for anxiety interventions are thought to contribute to the lack of change
- ACT could be helpful in managing depression in older adults, but importantly the effect size was small and studies relatively poorly controlled
Sun, Y., Tian, Z., Ma, Y., Zhu, Q., Zheng, R., Guan, Y., & Zhang, X. (2024). Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Reducing Depression and Anxiety in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing.
