Youth Online Wellbeing Initiative: A randomised controlled trial of online self-help Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for adolescents with anxiety

INTERVENTION: The ACT online assisted self‐help online intervention will comprise 2 components: 1) working through weekly material from the ACT adolescent self‐help book, Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life for Teens: A guide to living an extraordinary life. Content includes, normalisation of anxiety, acceptance of emotions, defusion of thoughts, developing self awareness, mindfulness, and valued action; and 2) an online platform that will contain video, audio and reading material, weekly comments and prompts from therapists, with the ability for participants to receive and send private messages to therapists. There will be 2 ACT treatment arms. The first will be the online self‐help program described. The second ACT condition will receive the same two components as Condition A, plus five additional telephone support sessions with a trained ACT therapist to support their use of the program (an initial 30‐minute introductory call at the start of the study, and four 10‐minute fortnightly support telephone calls). The approximate time commitment is 1 hour per week over an 8 week intervention period. CONDITION: Anxiety Depression Stress PRIMARY OUTCOME: Anxiety, as assessed by the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS). The SCAS is a 45‐item self‐report scale linked to DSM‐IV anxiety disorders. The SCAS will be administered online. Valued living, as assessed by the Keyes Psychological Well‐being scale. This is a 12‐item self‐report scale that will be administered online. SECONDARY OUTCOME: Mindfulness, as assessed by the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure. This is a 10‐item self‐report scale that will be administered online. Psychological flexibility, as assessed by the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth (AFQ‐Y). This is an 8‐item self‐report scale that will be administered online. INCLUSION CRITERIA: Sub‐clinical levels of anxiety The ability to understand spoken and written English Access to a computer with broadband Internet connection