Trial finds an ACT group programme eased career-related distress but did not raise career engagement

A randomised controlled trial in the Journal of Counseling Psychology tested a group intervention based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with 164 French-speaking adults in Quebec facing work- or career-related difficulties. Compared with a waitlist, participants reported more psychological flexibility, wellbeing and meaning at work and less distress, but not significantly more career engagement.

What happened

Researchers at the Université du Québec à Montréal (Maryse Damecour, Marina Doucerain, Lise Lachance and Simon Grégoire) ran the trial. Participants’ average age was 42 and about 81% were women. They included people in career transitions, with self-reported burnout symptoms or dissatisfaction at work, or struggling with career decisions or finding work. Just over half held permanent jobs; the rest were temporary, self-employed, unemployed or on sick leave.

The intervention was seven weekly 2.5-hour online group sessions covering difficult thoughts and emotions about work, personal and professional values, and plans to act on them. Participants were randomly assigned to the intervention or to a waitlist, which was offered the programme later.

Compared with the waitlist, the intervention group reported greater psychological flexibility, wellbeing and meaning in their professional lives, and less psychological distress and inflexibility. The improvements held at week 17, about nine weeks after the sessions ended. Career engagement did not increase significantly.

Why it matters

The trial separates two outcomes that are often assumed to move together: feeling better about one’s working life and becoming more engaged in one’s current job. The senior author suggests clearer values may lead some people away from their current role rather than back into it, but the data cannot show which happened.

The facilitators were trained in ACT and group facilitation and supervised by an experienced psychologist. The facilitator and participant manuals are publicly available through the Open Science Framework.

What happens next

The researchers note that the study did not compare ACT with other psychological or career interventions, relied on self-report, did not track between-session activities and did not independently check how closely facilitators followed the programme. The sample was mostly university-educated women in Quebec, so further trials are needed in other groups.

Sources

• American Psychological AssociationStruggling with your career? This psychological intervention may help
• Journal of Counseling PsychologyAn intervention based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for people experiencing work- or career-related difficulties: A randomized controlled trial