Acceptance and commitment therapy for well-being at worksites: charting the field for enhancing Its applicability

Abstract

The advent of the "New Era for Mental Health" has made the management of this intangible asset one of the hottest topics in the workplace. It is the leading cause of disability today. Organizations are encouraged to use psychological interventions to promote and prevent more sustainable and productive workplaces. The aim of this article is to develop an exploratory and systematic mixed review that combines quantitative and narrative analysis to synthesize the available literature on the use of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) interventions in the workplace—an increasingly popular therapy to address this challenge. This review provides a comprehensive reflection of the existing state of the art, gaps in current research, and future directions on the topic. The analysis of 59 articles collected from Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, and PubMed databases from 2000 to 2023 reveals, firstly, that the use of ACT interventions in the workplace is increasing significantly, with an upward trend over the last 5years and a presence in high-impact journals. Secondly, the research themes identified reveal that ACT intervention is still focused on clinical settings with limited presence in other sectors or organizational settings—such as education, business management, or return-to-work programs. Based on these results, this research underscores the growing importance of ACT in the workplace, revealing seven research opportunities to extend its application across various sectors and accelerate its effective implementation in industry and academia, thereby enhancing mental health and productivity.