Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in the Sense of Coherence and Self-compassion of Women with Multiple Sclerosis

One of the psychological factors that play an essential role in a person's adaptation to multiple sclerosis (MS) is the sense of coherence and self-compassion. Based on this, the present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of treatment based on commitment and acceptance in the sense of coherence and self-compassion of women with MS.

This quasi-experimental research was conducted based on a pre-test-post-test control group design with a follow-up. The statistical population of this research included all female patients with MS in Urmia in 2021. The sample size includes 30 subjects (15 in the experimental group and 15 in the control group) from the statistical population who were selected by the available sampling method and were assigned to two control and experimental groups by random allocation method. For the experimental group, acceptance and commitment therapy was implemented, while the control group did not receive any training. The research instruments were the Sense of Coherence Scale (Antonovsky, 1993) and the Self‐Compassion Scale (Raes et al., 2011).Data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 24) using descriptive statistics and repeated measures analysis of variance.

The mean scores of the sense of coherence in the experimental group in the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up phases were 42.66±3.01, 50.46±3.09, and 50.06±2.98, respectively.These values were obtained at 42.53±3.29, 43.20±2.78 and 43.40±2.55, respectively, in the control group. Moreover, the mean scores of the sense of self-compassion in the experimental group in the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up phases were 25.40±2.41, 32.86±2.85, and 33.73±2.73, respectively. These mean scores were calculated at 25.13±1.92, 25.26±198, and 24.33±1.95, respectively, in the control group. The scores of sense of coherence and self-compassion after the intervention in the test group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.01).

The results pointed out that the treatment based on commitment and acceptance significantly improved the sense of coherence and self-compassion in the studied subjects; therefore, the use of this intervention in patients with MS is suggested.