Microtrial Examining the Malleability of Psychological Flexibility in a Sample of Involuntarily Unemployed Job Seekers.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this study is to investigate the malleability of psychological flexibility in a sample of involuntarily unemployed job seekers. Job loss is associated with adverse psychological and health effects, yet few empirically supported interventions designed to target coping in involuntarily unemployed individuals have been established. In this study, a microtrial focusing on changing levels of psychological flexibility in involuntarily unemployed individuals was used to examine the malleability of psychological flexibility, testing its utility as a target for change in individuals facing involuntary unemployment. Psychological flexibility is defined as the mental flexibility needed to appraise a situation, think flexibly about the demands of the given situation, and subsequently utilize an appropriate coping strategy. This study recruited 121 participants from the sample of involuntarily unemployed individuals in the United States, with 57 participants randomly assigned to the control condition and 64 participants randomly assigned to the intervention condition. The intervention drew on components of interventions for coping flexibility and job loss and was a video based, interactive online intervention that was pre-recorded. Analyses of covariance were used to test the post-test mean difference in flexibility between conditions after controlling for pre-test levels of flexibility and covariates to determine the effect of the intervention. These were followed by analyses of covariance that include job search self-efficacy as a moderator to explore whether the effects of the intervention were different for individuals who are higher in job search self-efficacy as compared to those who are lower in job search self-efficacy. Participants who were low in flexibility at T1 and were assigned to the experimental condition saw a decrease in T3 flexibility scores compared to individuals assigned to the control condition. Future research should investigate the effects of a short-term psychological flexibility intervention that includes psychoeducation and skill building at the outset to increase baseline levels of psychological flexibility.