The comparison of the effectiveness of acceptance - commitment group therapy on cognitive fusion, quality of life and anxiety in students with diabetes

The use of psychological therapies along with medical treatments to treat and improve the psychological consequences of diabetes have always been of interest. In diabetes, psychological interventions try to reduce the adverse consequences of the disease.

In the student community, most of the researchers' attention has been focused on academic achievement and cognitive development and less attention has been paid to physical diseases such as diabetes.

This quasi-experimental study followed by a pretest, posttest, and follow-up design with a control group. The current study had a statistical population consisting of all students with diabetes in Zahedan. Its sample included 30 subjects selected using a convenience sampling method and randomly divided into two groups, i.e., experimental (n=15) and control (n=15). Then, the experimental group received 8 sessions of intervention through acceptance and commitment based intervention package (Ghomian & Shairi, 2014). Research instruments included the Cognitive Cohesion Questionnaire of Gilanders et al Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (2014), the Reynolds and Richmond’s Revised Measure of Children's Manifest Anxiety (1978), and the Diabetes Quality of Life Questionnaire for Youth. A multivariate analysis of covariance was used to analyze the obtained data statistically via SPSS.

Results showed that acceptance and commitment group therapy improved cognitive fusion, quality of life, and anxiety of the experimental group compared to the control group (P<0/05). These results persisted in the follow-up.

Acceptance and Commitment-based psychological therapies can help to improve psychological symptoms and reduce the psychological consequences of physical illness by building up an internal commitment in individuals.