The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment based therapy on psychosocial security, happiness and mental health of homeless women

Women as half of human resources in societies are an effective factor in advancing the goals of society and the family. Studies show that women are more vulnerable to poverty and discrimination than men. Now, homeless women are exposed to all kinds of injuries due to excessive responsibility, lack of familiarity with some social skills, lack of access to resources and consequently low quality of life, as well as loss of network of relationships and responsibilities of dependents. Therefore, the present study was conducted to identify the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on psychosocial security, happiness and mental health of homeless women.

The research design was a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest with a control group. The statistical population of homeless women is covered by the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee in Kalibar city in 1399. From this population, 40 people were selected by purposive sampling and studied. So that 40 women were randomly divided into two groups: experimental (20) and control (20). The data were collected using the Maslow (1992) Psychosocial Security Questionnaire, Arhil & Lu (1990) Happiness and Goldberg (2008) Mental Health Questionnaire. Data were analyzed by analysis of covariance.

The results showed; Acceptance and commitment therapy has an effect on psychosocial security, happiness and mental health of homeless women and increases psychosocial security and happiness and decreases mental health in homeless women (lower score indicates higher mental health).

Therefore, according to the research findings, we can say; Institutions provide the conditions for free psychological interventions, including acceptance and commitment treatment, along with appropriate economic, educational, and cultural support for these families so that homeless women can have a positive assessment of their social status and have favorable conditions.