This parallel randomized controlled trial aimed to evaluate the effect of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) focused on disrupting repetitive negative thinking (RNT) versus a waitlist control (WLC) in the treatment of depression and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Forty-eight participants with a main diagnosis of depression and/or GAD were allocated by means of simple randomization to a 2-session RNT-focused ACT intervention or to the WLC. The primary outcomes were emotional symptoms as measured by the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales–21. Process outcomes included ACT- and RNT-related measures: general RNT, experiential avoidance, cognitive fusion, values, and generalized pliance. At the 1-month follow-up, linear mixed effects models showed that the intervention was efficacious in reducing emotional symptoms (d = 2.42, 95% confidence interval [1.64, 3.19]), with 94.12% of participants in the RNT-focused ACT condition showing clinically significant change in the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales–21 total scores versus 9.09% in the WLC condition (70% vs. 8% in intention-to-treat analysis). The intervention effects were maintained at the 3-month follow-up. No adverse events were found. A very brief RNT-focused ACT intervention was highly effective in the treatment of depression and GAD.

The concept of rule-governed behavior (RGB) has been used in the behavior-analytic literature as a way to analyze complex human behavior, including thinking and problem-solving. Relational frame theory suggests the existence of two main functional types of RGB termed pliance and tracking. In this paper, we describe the development of the Generalized Tracking Questionnaire (GTQ) and the preliminary evaluation of its psychometric properties and validity through three studies, with a total of 1155 participants. In Study 1, a pool of items describing the main characteristics of generalized tracking was designed and evaluated by experts on the RFT account of RGB. The resulting 11 items were administered to 460 undergraduates to examine the understandability and psychometric quality of the items. The exploratory factor analysis indicated that the GTQ can be seen as a unidimensional scale, with all items exhibiting high factor loadings and corrected item-total correlations. In Study 2, the GTQ was administered online to a sample of 464 non-clinical participants and a clinical sample of 125 participants. The one-factor model of the GTQ obtained a good fit in the conducted confirmatory factor analysis. The GTQ showed measurement invariance across gender and clinical and nonclinical participants. It also obtained excellent internal consistency and correlated in theoretically coherent ways with other constructs. In Study 3, the GTQ and a neuropsychological battery of executive functions were administered to 105 participants. The GTQ showed statistically significant, medium-size correlations with working memory tests, verbal fluency, planning, and behavioral inhibition. In conclusion, the GTQ seems to be a promising measure to advance in the empirical analysis of functional classes of RGB.

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La violencia contra las personas mayores es una problemática con múltiples factores. El propósito de este trabajo es conocer las percepciones de personas que lideran y participan en redes de apoyo gubernamental frente a factores que conducen al maltrato a la persona mayor en la ciudad de Ibagué, Colombia. Estudio cualitativo de tipo descriptivo, la muestra estuvo constituida por 15 relatos de funcionarios. Se agruparon tres categorías denominadas como cambios culturales y su relación con el maltrato. La familia el principal entorno de maltrato y otros entornos de maltrato.

ResumenLa depresión es uno de los problemas en salud mental más prevalentes. En Latinoamérica se constituye como la primera problemática en cuanto a años de vida perdidos por incapacidad, lo que implica que se deben hacer esfuerzos importantes en desarrollar estrategias de intervención eficaces para su intervención. Este artículo tiene como objetivo, en primer lugar, ofrecer una revisión conceptual de la activación conductual, una de las estrategias de intervención que han probado ser eficaces en el tratamiento de la depresión y sus diferentes modalidades, en segundo lugar, examinar el uso que ha tenido en el manejo de la depresión en diferentes poblaciones y por último, revisar la evidencia empírica en Iberoamérica. Palabras clave: depresión, activación conductual, evidencia empírica e Iberoamérica AbstractDepression is nowadays one of the most prevalent mental health problems. In Latin America is the main problem in terms of years of life lost due to disability, implying that major efforts should be made to develop effective intervention strategies for treatment. This article aims, first, to provide a conceptual review of the Behavioral Activation, one of the interventions that have proven to be effective to treat depression and its various forms, secondly, to examine its use to treating depression with different populations and finally, to review the empirical evidence in Latin America. Keywords: depression, behavioral activation, empirical evidence, Iberoamerica