Effect of acceptance and commitment based therapy on psychological symptoms, coping styles, and quality of life in patients with type 2 Diabetes

 The aim of this study was to compare the effect of acceptance and commitment-based therapy on psychological distress, coping styles, and quality of life and perception of patients with type 2 diabetes.

 The present study was an applied research and in terms of research methodology, it was of pre-test post-test quasi-experimental type with the control group. The statistical population of the study included patients with type 2 diabetes who referred to medical centers and the Diabetes Association of Tehran in the age range of 30 to 60 years. An available sampling method was used to select the participants and they were randomly assigned to two groups of acceptance and commitment based therapy (n=20) and control group (n=20). Data were collected using Quality of Life Questionnaire, Conflict Response Questionnaire, Disease Perception Questionnaire and Psychological Distress Scale. Acceptance and commitment therapy (9 sessions of 90 minutes per week) was performed in the intervention group. Data were analyzed using SPSS software.

 The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the intervention and control groups in terms of psychological distress, body image, and eating disorders (P-Value<0.05). The mean scores of psychological distress, emotion-oriented coping styles, and attention-grabbing in the intervention group in the post-test were lower than the control group (P-Value<0.01). Also, the mean scores of problem-solving coping styles, social entertainment, quality of life, and perception of the disease in the intervention group in the post-test, were higher than those of the control group (P-Value<0.01).

 Commitment treatment based therapy had a significant effect on psychological distress, coping styles, quality of life, and disease perception in the intervention group and this therapeutic method is proposed for reducing the psychological disorders and improving the quality of life in type 2 diabetes patients.