Wednesday, February 17, 2016

SCAN Symposium Session 2016: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Empowering Patients to Make Changes That Last

Twenty-Three (23) CPEUs for the Symposium program will be requested from the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR). CPE from the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) is also anticipated.


This week’s blog post features Mary Jo Parker, MS, RDN, CDN and Sherry M. Farrow, PhD.  Their session is titled: “Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Empowering Patients to Make Changes That Last.”  Health related behavior change is difficult to sustain long-term. In order to maximize the potential for lasting change, behaviors need to be linked to what is personally meaningful to the individual, and individuals need tools to cope with the discomfort associated with shifting their habits.  Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an empirically supported and highly effective behavioral treatment that focuses on assisting individuals to clarify their own compelling reasons for change, to become more aware and present through mindfulness practice, and to take goal-directed action.  ACT is well-suited to working with people with various presenting problems, be it disordered eating, eating disorders, or difficulty managing chronic illness, such as cardiovascular disease or diabetes. This presentation will provide an overview of the ACT model and will introduce several tools and techniques that participants can apply in clinical settings. Experiential exercises will be utilized to demonstrate the utility of the model.