C3 | APPLIED NEUROPSYCHOLOGY
Tracks
Stream 3
| Friday, July 31, 2026 |
| 3:15 PM - 4:15 PM |
| Ballroom C |
Overview
(1) PRES 40 mins: What factors drive neuropsychologists to work in public health? (Roween Beecham)
|| (2) PRES 20 mins: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for psychological adjustment following traumatic brain injury: A translational research program (Diane Whiting)
Presenter
Dr Rowena Beecham
University Of Canberra
What factors drive neuropsychologists to work in public health?
3:15 PM - 3:55 PMAbstract
The Australian psychology workforce is experiencing a critical shortage, not only due to limited numbers of trained professionals, but also because of uneven distribution across employment sectors. Recruitment and retention challenges are particularly evident in public health, a sector that plays a pivotal role in supporting vulnerable populations and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. However, to date, Stokes and colleagues' (2010) workforce survey remains the only known Australian study to directly examine retention factors across different sectors of the psychology workforce. Since then, the psychology workforce and broader health landscape has shifted significantly; for example, with the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the expanded uptake of Medicare-funded psychological services and new training pathways for psychologists. This talk will present findings from a recent survey of Australian psychologists that looked at factors that predict a preference for working in the public health or private health sectors. Of specific interest are work-related values such as pay, flexibility and access to multidisciplinary teams, public service motivation, and previous placement and work experience. Multinomial logistic regression will test whether these factors predict current work sector and intended future work sector. A sub-analysis looking specifically at neuropsychologists will also be discussed. The findings will help policy makers and employers to develop more targeted workforce recruitment and retention strategies.
.....
Rowena works as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Canberra, where she teaches psychological assessment, cultural responsivity and working with people with cognitive impairment. She also supervisors student research projects, with research interests spanning how we train psychologists to how we, as clinicians, can best meet the needs of people with various brain conditions. She also has a small private practice, conducting assessments and providing interventions to people with brain conditions in Canberra and the surrounding region.
Dr Diane Whiting
.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for psychological adjustment following traumatic brain injury: A translational research program
3:55 PM - 4:15 PMAbstract
Background:
Psychological distress is highly prevalent following traumatic brain injury (TBI), with individuals frequently experiencing depression, anxiety, and challenges in adjusting to post-injury life. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) targets psychological flexibility—the capacity to remain present, open, and engaged in values-based action despite difficult internal experiences—as a core mechanism of change. This presentation will provide the current evidence on the effectiveness of ACT, particularly the ACT-Adjust program, in improving psychological outcomes for individuals with moderate to severe TBI and investigations into mechanisms of change. Furthermore, it will provide a brief overview of the adaptation and validation of appropriate outcome measures to measure meaningful clinical change.
Methods:
A series of studies—including a conceptual review, cross sectional studies, validation studies, feasibility trials, pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT), and a multi-site non-inferiority RCT protocol—have investigated and evaluated ACT for TBI in Australia. These studies incorporated validated measures of psychological flexibility (e.g., Acceptance and Action Questionnaire variants) alongside outcomes such as depression, anxiety, stress, and participation. Early feasibility studies explored dyadic ACT delivery, while later trials compared ACT-Adjust to active control conditions and waitlist groups. Recent research extended delivery to videoconferencing formats, enabling comparison with face-to-face interventions. Assessments using appropriately validated measures were conducted at baseline, post-intervention, and follow-up to examine both clinical outcomes and process-level changes in psychological flexibility.
Results:
Across studies, ACT interventions were found to be feasible and acceptable for individuals with severe TBI. Pilot RCT findings indicated significant reductions in depression and stress compared to control conditions. Improvements in psychological flexibility were observed in several studies, though results were variable and not always statistically significant. Importantly, secondary analyses and broader ACT literature suggest that increases in psychological flexibility are associated with reductions in distress and greater engagement in meaningful activities, supporting its role as a mediating process. Feasibility and engagement with ACT processes—such as acceptance, cognitive defusion, and values-based action—were consistently reported. Emerging findings indicate videoconference delivery of ACT is comparable to face-to-face formats, enhancing accessibility without compromising therapeutic outcomes. More recent research has extended to neuropsychological mechanisms, examining the relationship between cognitive processes (e.g., inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility) and psychological inflexibility following TBI. This work integrates neuropsychology with contextual behavioural science, offering a more comprehensive account of how cognitive impairments interact with emotional and behavioural adjustment.
Conclusions:
There is a growing body of evidence supporting ACT as a promising intervention for psychological adjustment following TBI, with psychological flexibility as a central therapeutic target. While reductions in emotional distress are robust, further large-scale trials are needed to clarify the extent to which changes in psychological flexibility mediate long-term functional outcomes. Future research should prioritise refined measurement of flexibility processes and explore mechanisms of change across diverse delivery formats, including eHealth interventions.
Psychological distress is highly prevalent following traumatic brain injury (TBI), with individuals frequently experiencing depression, anxiety, and challenges in adjusting to post-injury life. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) targets psychological flexibility—the capacity to remain present, open, and engaged in values-based action despite difficult internal experiences—as a core mechanism of change. This presentation will provide the current evidence on the effectiveness of ACT, particularly the ACT-Adjust program, in improving psychological outcomes for individuals with moderate to severe TBI and investigations into mechanisms of change. Furthermore, it will provide a brief overview of the adaptation and validation of appropriate outcome measures to measure meaningful clinical change.
Methods:
A series of studies—including a conceptual review, cross sectional studies, validation studies, feasibility trials, pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT), and a multi-site non-inferiority RCT protocol—have investigated and evaluated ACT for TBI in Australia. These studies incorporated validated measures of psychological flexibility (e.g., Acceptance and Action Questionnaire variants) alongside outcomes such as depression, anxiety, stress, and participation. Early feasibility studies explored dyadic ACT delivery, while later trials compared ACT-Adjust to active control conditions and waitlist groups. Recent research extended delivery to videoconferencing formats, enabling comparison with face-to-face interventions. Assessments using appropriately validated measures were conducted at baseline, post-intervention, and follow-up to examine both clinical outcomes and process-level changes in psychological flexibility.
Results:
Across studies, ACT interventions were found to be feasible and acceptable for individuals with severe TBI. Pilot RCT findings indicated significant reductions in depression and stress compared to control conditions. Improvements in psychological flexibility were observed in several studies, though results were variable and not always statistically significant. Importantly, secondary analyses and broader ACT literature suggest that increases in psychological flexibility are associated with reductions in distress and greater engagement in meaningful activities, supporting its role as a mediating process. Feasibility and engagement with ACT processes—such as acceptance, cognitive defusion, and values-based action—were consistently reported. Emerging findings indicate videoconference delivery of ACT is comparable to face-to-face formats, enhancing accessibility without compromising therapeutic outcomes. More recent research has extended to neuropsychological mechanisms, examining the relationship between cognitive processes (e.g., inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility) and psychological inflexibility following TBI. This work integrates neuropsychology with contextual behavioural science, offering a more comprehensive account of how cognitive impairments interact with emotional and behavioural adjustment.
Conclusions:
There is a growing body of evidence supporting ACT as a promising intervention for psychological adjustment following TBI, with psychological flexibility as a central therapeutic target. While reductions in emotional distress are robust, further large-scale trials are needed to clarify the extent to which changes in psychological flexibility mediate long-term functional outcomes. Future research should prioritise refined measurement of flexibility processes and explore mechanisms of change across diverse delivery formats, including eHealth interventions.
.....
Dr Diane Whiting is a Senior Clinical Psychologist/Senior Research Fellow who has worked clinically across a range of client groups through the life span in private, public, and non-government organisations for over 25 years. Her current focus is working with individuals with a severe traumatic brain injury both clinically, in private practice (TBI Psychology), and in research with the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Research Group, Ingham Institute, Liverpool, NSW, Australia. Her main areas of research interest involve implementing Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for the treatment of psychological distress and adjustment after a traumatic brain injury, the processes involved in therapy which facilitate change as well as the development and validation of psychological measures for individuals with a TBI. Diane has authored 20 peer reviewed journal articles, 10 as first author and two book chapters. She delivers workshops in Australia and internationally, on the delivery of ACT to adults with a brain injury.
