Evaluating the Preliminary Feasibility and Efficacy of an Online Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Program to Improve Healthy Eating in Highly Stressed Adults

Stress is known to have deleterious effects on mental and physical well-being, influencing disease risk through poor dietary behaviors. Despite established relationships between stress and unhealthy eating, a notable gap exists in addressing and improving eating behaviors within the context of stress. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a promising approach to target the internal experiences and overt behaviors related to stress and eating. Given the barriers highly stressed adults face when attempting positive behavior change, accessible interventions are needed. Brief, online programs offer a promising solution to these challenges. The current study seeks to evaluate the preliminary feasibility and efficacy of a brief online ACT-based program designed to promote healthy eating in highly stressed adults. Sixty participants with moderate to high levels of stress, as indicated by the Perceived Stress Scale, will be recruited and randomly assigned to either the online intervention or a waitlist control group. The intervention consists of two online sessions and two coaching phone calls over five weeks. Assessments will be conducted at baseline, post-intervention, and one-month follow-up and will measure program satisfaction, dietary quality, stress levels, dietary behaviors, and ACT-based processes. This pilot study aims to provide valuable insights that can inform future intervention work, resulting in meaningful, sustainable eating behavior change amidst the challenging contexts of stress.