Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science
Volume
39
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Publication Date
11-19-2025
Journal Article Version
Accepted Manuscript
First Page
1
Last Page
35
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Abstract
Digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) are scalable, accessible, and easily contextualized to the needs of autistic adults, making them a promising resource to help address common barriers to high quality mental health supports. The current preregistered study employs an open trial design and a mixed methods approach to assess the preliminary efficacy of a DMHI among N = 56 autistic adults. The co-created DMHI contains six sessions based in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), in a skills-training context, aiming to improve subjective wellbeing and quality of life. We found that changes in subjective wellbeing were observed at post-test (4-weeks following baseline), but these changes were not maintained at follow-up (10- weeks following baseline). However, changes in quality of life were observed at post-test and maintained at follow-up. Changes were also observed in our secondary outcomes, including psychological distress and psychological flexibility, most of which were maintained at follow-up. The current study provides preliminary support for the efficacy of an ACT-based DMHI to improve subjective wellbeing and quality of life among autistic adults.
Recommended Citation
Aller T.B., Kelley H.H., Klimczak K.S., Covington B.P. & Levin M.E., A longitudinal pilot evaluation of valued living: An acceptance and commitment therapy-based digital mental health intervention for autistic adults. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 39, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2025.100961.