Integrating Psychology Skills Training (PST) with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Wood, Sam ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1281-870X and Turner, Martin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1975-5561 (2025) Integrating Psychology Skills Training (PST) with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Journal of Sport Psychology in Action. ISSN 2152-0704 (In Press)

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Abstract

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has grown enormously since it emerged. One context in which ACT seems ubiquitous is applied sport psychology. A strength of ACT is its flexible, principles-driven delivery, which can be applied to most presenting problems encountered in applied sport psychology. Psychological skill training (PST), a set of psychological, performance enhancement techniques, have become a cornerstone of applied sport psychology. Yet little has been written about how ACT can be applied alongside PST. Clarifying the alignment between ACT and PST is crucial for practitioners to seamlessly integrate ACT into their practice. To this end, the current paper proposes and details the confluence of a framework for how PST can align with the ACT hexaflex model. We draw on core ACT theory, within the lens of applied sport psychology.