Open AccessAn Examination of the Intervention-Enhancing Effect of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy–Based Training on Direct Service Professionals’ Performance in the Workplace
Author(s) -
John Charles Pingo,
Mark R. Dixon,
Dana Paliliunas
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
behavior analysis in practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2196-8934
pISSN - 1998-1929
DOI - 10.1007/s40617-018-00275-9
Subject(s) - intervention (counseling) , acceptance and commitment therapy , competence (human resources) , lottery , psychology , flexibility (engineering) , treatment and control groups , clinical psychology , physical therapy , medicine , applied psychology , social psychology , psychiatry , statistics , mathematics , pathology
Direct service professionals (DSPs) provide treatment to individuals with developmental disabilities; however, high levels of performance are not always prevalent among these professionals. The present study examined the effect of an intervention package with verbal and written performance feedback and a performance-based lottery alone as part of a treatment package including an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)-based training program on the frequency and technical competence of active treatment for individuals with disabilities provided by DSPs. Both intervention groups performed significantly better than the control group on all observational measures ( p < .05). The performance enhancement intervention (PEI) plus ACT group outperformed the PEI group significantly in frequency of active treatment at posttest ( p < .05). Self-reported levels of psychological flexibility, workplace stress, and job satisfaction remained stable for all three groups from pre- to posttest despite the increased performance among DSPs in the two intervention groups.