An exploration of the relationships of experiential avoidance (as measured by the aaq-ii and meaq) with negative affect, perceived stress, and avoidant coping styles

Coping strategies and psychological distress among mothers during COVID-19 pandemic: The moderating role of social support

The Indonesian government implemented a large-scale social restriction policy as part of the efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. This policy impacted the population, including mothers, and caused considerable psychological distress. Individual efforts to cope (avoidant and approach coping strategies) and support from significant persons might help handle the distress experienced by mothers. The purpose of this empirical study is to investigate the effect of individual coping strategies on psychological distress and the moderating role of social support among Indonesian mothers. An online survey was administered from 20th to 25th April 2020 to 1534 Indonesian mothers (Mean age 37.12 years; SD 6.63). Brief COPE (28 items), Depression Anxiety Stress Scale/DASS (18 items), and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support/MSPSS (12 items) were used to measure coping strategies, psychological distress, and social support, respectively. IBM SPSS 24 software was used to analyze the data. The result showed that moderate and high levels of social support moderated the relationship between approach coping strategies and psychological distress (B = .041, CI .007-.075). When the mother uses approach coping, her psychological distress will decrease further whenever she receives moderate and high level social support. Any level of social support moderated the relationship between avoidant coping and psychological distress (B = -.100, CI -.138-.061). When mother used avoidant coping, her social support at any level served as buffer to her psychological distress. It can be concluded that mothers need to prioritize implementing approach coping strategies to lower their distress. Those who practiced avoidant coping strategies needed social support from their significant persons to decrease their distress.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Processes and Mediation: Challenges and How to Address Them

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) emphasizes a focus on theory-driven processes and mediating variables, a laudable approach. The implementation of this approach would be advanced by addressing five challenges, including (a) distinguishing ACT processes in measurement contexts, (b) developing and rigorously validating measures of ACT processes, (c) the wide use of psychometrically weaker ACT process measures and the more limited use of stronger measures in earlier work, (d) the inconsistency of past evidence that ACT processes are sensitive or specific to ACT or mediate ACT outcomes specifically, and (e) improving statistical power and transparency. Drawing on the existing literature, we characterize and provide evidence for each of these challenges. We then offer detailed recommendations for how to address each challenge in ongoing and future work. Given ACT's core focus on theorized processes, improving the measurement and evaluation of these processes would significantly advance the field's understanding of ACT.