Effects of an online behavioural activation intervention combined with self-compassion training on wellbeing, behaviour, and depression symptoms in a non-clinical sample.

This project will comprise a three-armed randomised pre-test post-test wait-list controlled study. The interventions that will be provided to participants in each arm are described below. All interventions will be self-directed, and distributed by email. Arm 1: Behavioural Activation Intervention. Participants in this arm of the study will be individually emailed an audio recording and a brief set of instructions (approximately two double-sided A4 pages) once per week for six weeks. The written instructions will be based upon Lejuez, Hopko, and Hopko's (2002) Brief Behavioural Activation for the Treatment of Depression (BATD) protocol, adapted to reflect a focus upon wellbeing rather than depression. Audio recordings will provide participants with an orientation to the written instructions and will approximately 1-2 minutes duration each. In week 1, instructions will focus on introducing the behavioural activation treatment approach, and inviting participants to monitor their daily activities. In week 2, participants will be invited to identify their values across three life areas, and activities that would be pleasant and/or meaningful for them to do that reflect those values. They will also be asked to continue monitoring their behaviour. During week 3, they will be asked to select and rank a list of activities from those identified the previous week, plan and implement activities, and to continue monitoring their behaviour. During week 4, they will be asked to continue activity selection, planning, and monitoring, and also to use a specific approach to enlisting social support to do their planned activities. During week 5, they will be asked to continue activity planning, selection, and monitoring, and enlisting social support. They will also be invited to review the values and activities they identified earlier in the program and consider adjusting them if needed. During week 6, they will be invited to review the skills they have learned, and to continue applying them post-treatment. Trouble-shooting ideas will be included in instruction sheets each week. It is estimated participants will spent approximately 10 to 15 minutes each day engaged in tasks outlined in the written instructions. The activities participants select to plan and do through these tasks, and the amount of time engaged in these activities, will be entirely up to them. Participants will also receive a second email mid-way through each week of the six-week intervention that will provide ideas and options to help them overcome barriers they may experience in implementing the tasks outlined in instructions that week. Arm 2: Enhanced Behavioural Activation Intervention. Participants in this intervention will be emailed the same written instruction sheets, on the same weekly schedule, as those in Arm 1. However, the audio recordings accompanying these written instructions will comprise a self-compassion training intervention informed by Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT; Gilbert 2000) instead of an orientation to the written materials (i.e., they will focus on inducing self-compassion). Each week for six weeks, the audio recording will include a guided self-compassion meditation activity designed to induce a self-compassionate attitude towards participation in behavioural activation tasks. In week 1, the audio recording will also provide an introduction to self-compassion and it's relevance to behavioural change, and will be approximately 14 minutes duration. In weeks 2 to 6, each audio recording will be approximately 6-7 minutes duration. Participants will also receive a second email mid-way through each week of the six-week intervention that will provide ideas and options to help them overcome barriers they may experience in implementing the tasks outlined in instructions that week. Arm 3: Wait-list Control Participants allocated to this condition will receive the same intervention materials as those in Arm 2, on the same weekly schedule. However, they will begin receiving these materials 20 weeks after those allocated to Arm 1 and Arm 2 (i.e., the week after three-month follow-up surveys are conducted). Intervention fidelity will not be directly assessed and no strategies will be used to improve it. To provide a proxy measure of adherence a question will be included in mid-treatment and post-treatment surveys requesting participants to estimate what percentage of tasks allocated in weekly instruction sheets they completed during the preceding three week period.