Change Process of Psychological Well-being, Self-compassion and Acceptance in the Mindful Self-compassion Training Group and the ACT-based Self-compassion Group

Self-compassion is a treatment mechanism closely related to acceptance, so it needs to be used as a component of Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) explicitly and integratively. This study explored changes in psychological well-being, self-compassion, and acceptance among three groups: mindful self-compassion training (n=11), ACT-based self-compassion (n=8), and control (n=8) undergraduates. Mindful self-compassion training comprised 8 sessions of 16 to 20 minutes each, while ACT-based self-compassion group program involved 8 sessions of 90 minutes per week. Using latent growth modeling, changes were analyzed at four time points: pre, mid, post, and follow-up. Results showed that in the training group, the three variables increased but rapidly decreased at follow-up. In the ACT group, self-compassion increased and then decreased slowly at follow-up. These findings suggest mindful self-compassion training enhances psychological well-being, self-compassion, and acceptance. Incorporating self-compassion interventions into ACT helps maintain self-compassion effects over time.