An examination of the relationship between self-compassion, emotion regulation, happiness and stress in practising psychotherapists, and an a randomized controlled trial of a web-based self-compassion training program for postgraduate psychology trainees

INTERVENTION: Study One will involve conducting a cross‐sectional, correlational study of self‐compassion amongst practising psychotherapists (including trainees), and using Structural Equation Modelling to explore the relationship between self‐compassion and stress, as well as the potential mediating role of happiness and emotion regulation in this relationship. Measures for Study One will be administered online, and the study will be open to participants at least until the requisite sample size is reached (>155). Upon completion of the online measures for Study One, eligible participants will be given the opportunity to register for Study Two. In Study Two, a randomized controlled trial will be conducted to investigate the utility of a self‐guided, self‐compassion‐based intervention delivered via the Internet for increasing self‐compassion, and promoting psychological well‐being and resilience to stress amongst postgraduate trainee psychology students currently engaged in clinical work. In Study Two, if participants are randomly allocated to the intervention group, treatment will be based on Germer and Neff's (2011) Mindful Self‐Compassion program, adapted for online administration and tailored for postgraduate students. This program is a combination of mindfulness‐ and self‐compassion‐based meditations, written and behavioural exercises, psychoeducation, self‐monitoring, and feedback aimed at increasing self‐compassion, increasing psychological wellbeing, and reducing psychological distress. The program will be provided through the website "Self‐Compassion Online". A time period of 8 weeks will be allocated to all participants to complete the program (a total of 8 modules). It is anticipated that each module will take approximately 2 hours to complete. CONDITION: Anxiety Symptoms Depression Symptoms Emotion Regulation Happiness Self‐Compassion Self‐Criticism Self‐Reassurance Stress Symptoms INCLUSION CRITERIA: To be eligible for the study, participants must be postgraduate psychology students currently enrolled in a psychology Master’s, Doctorate, or PhD course at an Australian university, and currently undergoing clinical training, have access to the internet, and have a low self‐compassion score on the SCS (i.e., a score of 65 or below; Neff, 2009b). PRIMARY OUTCOME: 21‐Item Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995b). The stress subscale of the DASS‐21 will also be used to measure stress. The DASS‐21 is a 21‐item self‐report measure with three subscales that measure depression, anxiety and stress. It employs a four‐point Likert‐type response format to assess how often respondents experienced symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress over the past week, with possible responses ranging from 0 (did not apply to me at all) to 3 (applied to me very much, or most the time). The Depression scale assesses dysphoria, hopelessness, devaluation of life, self‐deprecation, lack of interest/involvement, anhedonia, and inertia. The Anxiety scale assesses autonomic arousal, skeletal muscle effects, situational anxiety, and subjective experience of anxious affect. The Stress scale assesses levels of chronic non‐specific arousal, such as difficulty relaxing, nervous arousal, and being easily upset/agitated, irritable/over‐reactive and impatient. Authentic Happiness Inventory (AHI; Peterson & Park, 2008). The AHI will be used to measure happiness. The AHI is a 24‐item updated version of the Steen Happiness Index (SHI) developed by Seligman et al. (2005). Similar to the SHI, the AHI is designed to measure Seligman et al.'s (2005) conceptualization of happiness, which divides the construct into three dimensions: pleasure, meaning, and engagement. Each item consists of five statements that range from negative (I feel like a failure) to extremely positive (I feel I am extraordinarily successful). Respondents are asked to indicate the statement that best described them during the previous week. Preliminary data support the validity of the authentic happiness construct (Kaczmarek, Stanko‐Kaczmarek, & Dombrowski, 2010), and the reliability of this scale, with Cronbach's alphas > .92 for each subscale and the total scale score reported in the literature (e.g., Schiffrin & Nelson, 2010; Silberman, 2007). Self‐Compassion Scale (SCS; Neff, 2003a). The SCS is a 26‐item self‐report measure comprising six subscales (self‐kindness, self‐judgment, common humanity, isolation, mindfulness, and over‐identification) designed to assess the different facets of self‐compassion proposed by Neff (2003a, 2003b). It employs a five‐point Likert‐type response format, ranging from 1 (almost never) to 5 (almost always). SECONDARY OUTCOME: Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; Gratz & Roemer, 2004). The DERS will be used to measure emotion regulation. The DERS is a 36‐item self‐report questionnaire designed to measure problems with emotion regulation according to Gratz and Roemer's conceptualization of adaptive emotion regulation as involving four key capacities: (1) emotional awareness and understanding; (2) emotional acceptance; (3) the capacity to control impulsive behaviours when experiencing unpleasant emotions and to behave in accordance with desired goals; and (4) the ability to use appropriate emotion regulation strategies. The DERS uses a five‐point Likert‐type response format (1 = almost never to 5 = almost always) to measure difficulties with emotion regulation along six dimensions: (1) non‐acceptance of emotions; (2) difficulties engaging in goal‐directed behaviour; (3) impulse control difficulties; (4) lack of emotional awareness; (5) limited access to emotion regulation strategies; and (6) lack of emotional clarity. The DERS has exhibited good validity (Orgeta, 2009), test‐retest reliability, overall internal consistency ( .93) and adequate subscale reliability, with Cronbach's alphas > .80 for each subscale (Gratz & Roemer, 2004). Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983). The PSS will be used to measure stress. The PSS is a 10‐item self‐report measure of cognitive appraisals of stress. Respondents are asked to rate the frequency of stressful events in the past month on a 5‐point Likert‐type response scale, ranging from 0 (never) to 4 (very often). The PSS has adequate construct and discriminant validity, and good reliability, with Cronbach's alpha of .85 reported in the literature (Cohen, et al., 1983; Cohen & Williamson, 1988; Roberti, Harrington, & Storch, 2006). The Forms of Self‐Criticising/Attacking and Self‐Reassuring Scale (FSCRS; Gilbert, Clark, Hempel, Miles, & Irons, 2004). The FSCRS is a 22‐item scale that measures individual's tendencies to be self‐critical or self‐reassuring when things go wrong. The scale measures two forms of self‐critical cognitions: self‐inadequacy and self‐hatred, and one form of self‐reassurance. Responses are given on a 5‐point Likert scale (ranging from 0 = not at all like me, to 4 = extremely like me). Cronbach's alphas were 0.90 for the inadequate‐self scale and 0.86 for the hated‐self scale and reassured‐self scale respectively. In the proposed study, the wording of the FSCRS will be changed to reflect how much the respondents experienced the various cognitions in the past week.