Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Healthcare Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Mixed Methods Systematic Review

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic constitutes an unprecedented health crisis in modern history. Healthcare professionals working during the pandemic were exposed to several factors that provide an elevated risk to mental health. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has been discussed by the literature as effective for healthcare workers. Thus, the present review aimed to analyze the effectiveness, acceptability and characteristics of ACT-based interventions for healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the 472 studies that were identified, four met the eligibility criteria for inclusion. The data extraction and narrative synthesis followed the segregated convergent methodology. The included studies suffered from methodological limitations, although it was suggested that ACT was effective for the reduction of symptoms related to mental health problems and for the training of repertoires that favor quality of life (QoL). The qualitative component shows high acceptability and feasibility of ACT in online group formats.