Evidence of Preliminary Efficacy from a Non-Randomized Open Trial of Valued Living: An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-Based Digital Mental Health Intervention for Autistic Adults

Digital mental health interventions (DMHI) 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, but these changes were not maintained at follow-up. 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.