What is ACT Guide Lite?
Designed by psychologists at Utah State University, ACT Guide Lite is a single-session online self-help program, based on our full 12-session ACT Guide program. The program aims to foster emotional wellbeing and help individuals cope with issues such as depression, anxiety, and stress.
What to Expect
- ACT Guide Lite is completed entirely online and is intended to be done in one sitting. This “crash course” will teach you new ways to interact with your thoughts and feelings, to help you do what matters most to you. You can expect to spend around 45 minutes with the program.
- If you’re interested in ACT Guide but aren’t sure if you want to commit to the full program, ACT Guide Lite may be a good first step. For those who have already completed the 12-session ACT Guide, ACT Guide Lite can be a good way to review what you’ve learned in a briefer format.
- Read the Privacy Notice and the Terms of Use.
About us
- ACT Guide Lite was developed by Dr. Michael Levin, a professor in Utah State University’s Psychology Department and co-director of the Utah State University ACT Research Group. The USU ACT Research group is dedicated to increasing access to mental healthcare using scientific studies to understand how we can better help people with a variety of mental health concerns.
- Creating ACT Guide Lite is our way of taking what we’ve learned in our lab about mental wellbeing and using it to improve the lives of others.
The Science
- ACT Guide Lite is based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), an approach to mental health that is frequently used to treat a range of concerns. There have been over 300 randomized controlled trials showing the positive effects of using ACT. These trials are one of the strongest ways to test treatment approaches (State of the ACT Evidence)
- ACT has also been found to be effective when delivered in a self-help format like ACT Guide Lite. Dr. Michael Levin, the developer of ACT Guide Lite, is one of the leading researchers of ACT self-help interventions. Dr. Levin has found strong support for online ACT programs like ACT Guide Lite in over 20 clinical trials, with dozens of studies by other research teams finding similar results.
- In our lab, we have conducted a number of studies using online ACT programs very similar to ACT Guide Lite. See below for a sample of our work in this area:
- Levin, M. E., Krafft, J., Hicks, E. T., Pierce, B., & Twohig, M. P. (2020). A randomized dismantling trial of the open and engaged components of acceptance and commitment therapy in an online intervention for distressed college students. Behaviour Research and Therapy,126,103557. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2020.103557
- Petersen, J. M., Krafft, J., Twohig, M. P., & Levin, M. E. (2019). Evaluating the open and engaged components of acceptance and commitment therapy in an online self-guided website: Results from a pilot trial. Behavior modification,45(3), 480-501. https://doi.org/10.1177/0145445519878668
- Levin, M. E., Haeger, J. A., Pierce, B. G., & Twohig, M. P. (2017). Web-based acceptance and commitment therapy for mental health problems in college students: A randomized controlled trial. Behavior Modification,41(1), 141-162. https://doi.org/10.1177/0145445516659645
Cost
- For $5, you’ll receive access to ACT Guide Lite for six months. During this time, you can complete the program at your own pace.
- All proceeds from ACT Guide Lite directly support program maintenance and future program development. Payments are processed securely via PayPal.
- If you are interested in using ACT Guide Lite at your organization, please contact us for bulk pricing options at ACTGuide@usu.edu.