Secondary objectives—exploration of effects
depression, Anxiety, WL, anxiety
SECONDARY
To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate In contrast, with the recruited sample size, the AP group was statistically superior to AE and WL in terms of reductions in depression symptoms (HADS-D), anxiety (HADS-A) and intolerance of uncertainty (IU-SF Inhibitory Anxiety), and improvements in motivation (BMQ-S), with over 50% of AP participants demonstrating MCID improvements in anxiety and depression. All of these gains were well maintained one month following therapy cessation, indicating that these may be stronger effects observable in small sample sizes. Given that the current study was not powered to examine these secondary outcome measures, replication of these secondary effects in a newly recruited sample is required. Longer follow-up periods may also be beneficial to assess longer-term maintenance of gains.There are many potential reasons why, within a BA framework, the desired intervention AE-style groups that have no explicit therapeutic agenda are far less investigated than conventional therapeutic groups in terms of potential mood improvements. These groups can provide a safe and predictable milieu where individuals can form a continuous support network [There may be a number of reasons for the apparent superiority of the AP group in mediating greater mood improvement. Firstly, the AP group explicitly encourages participants to plan and engage in between-session positive activities. Second, it incorporates goal management techniques to mitigate barriers to activity engagement. Thirdly, the achievement of these between-session activities may increase a sense of mastery/control that in turn contributed to mood gains [