Testing the Impact of a Brief Acceptance, Mindfulness and Values Intervention on Multiple Features of Task Persistence Michael Levin, Colin Stromberg, Jennifer Villatte, Tom Waltz & Steven Hayes University of Nevada, Reno

Overview Persistence is not always effective Seeking to develop/refine measures of effective task persistence

Task Persistence Tendency to persist in pursuit of one’s goals despite distress Behavioral measures of task persistence Latency to discontinue difficult task Cold pressor, math task, breath holding, mirror tracing Analogue to clinically-relevant behavior

Predicts Clinical Outcomes Abstinence from nicotine and illicit drug use Gambling Self injury Depression Bipolar Disorder Antisocial Personality Disorder Borderline Personality Disorder

Role of Task Persistence in ACT Research Captures some features of psychological flexibility – Acceptance, defusion, committed action Useful measure for micro-component studies – Acceptance, mindfulness and values impact task persistence in combination/isolation

Persistence is Not Always Effective Problematic persistence – Rigid, inflexible, passive, insensitive to contingencies Effective persistence – Flexible, active, sensitive to contingencies Where does latency to discontinue a task fit in?

Towards a Measure of Effective Persistence Need a measure that assesses active, flexible, and engaged persistence in a goal-direct activity Modified Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task – Difficult math task used to assess task persistence

Score

Score

Score

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Focus on points earned as primary DV Changed the quit button to a pause button Added self-report questions PASAT - Pause Version

Purpose of Study Examine the potential utility of the PASAT-P in capturing effective persistence Test the impact of a combined acceptance, mindfulness, and values intervention

Method Baseline Distress Tolerance Scale; Persistence, Perseveration, & Perfectionism Breath Holding & PASAT-P Randomly Assigned Acceptance, Mindfulness,& Values (N = 21) Control condition - Reading a book (N = 24) Post Breath Holding PASAT-P 45 Psychology Students

ACT Intervention Connecting persistence to personal values Control is the problem and acceptance – Polygraph & Chinese Finger Trap metaphors Defusion from cognitive barriers to persistence – How minds work & I can’t walk exercise Present moment awareness – Breathing meditation Swamp metaphor

Baseline Correlations Pearson r correlations DTSPPPQ - Persistence PPPQ - Perseveration Breath holding Pause time Time to pause Number of points.33*.31*.13 Errors Omits

ANCOVA Results Significant difference between conditions on – Number of points earned – Pause time – Willingness – Task rating Trend with breath holding and time to pause No significant difference on – Emotional Distress – Errors – Omits

Points Earned F = 5.43, p <.05, partial η² =.12

Pause Time F = 7.06, p <.05, partial η² =.14

Task Rating F = 8.79, p <.01, partial η² =.17

Willingness F = 4.98, p <.05, partial η² =.11

Discussion PASAT-P may assess effective task persistence The measure is sensitive to intervention Adds to micro-component literature on ACT interventions

Limitations Relatively weak control condition – Demand characteristics, discussing the task, mood induction Problems with using score as a primary DV Tested a combined ACT intervention

Future Directions What are we assessing with this measure? Exploring how to organize and identify forms of persistence More refined component tests Continuing to pursue ways to refine task persistence measures