The effectiveness of Acceptance & Commitment Therapy on the Death Anxiety & Hopelessness of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

The present study was conducted with the aim of determining the effectiveness of acceptance & commitment therapy on death anxiety and hopelessness of patients with multiple sclerosis. The method of this study was semi-experimental with pre-test, post-test and follow up with the control group. The population of the study was made up of women with MS in Tabriz who were members of the MS Association of this city in 2022. 30 people were selected using purposeful sampling and were randomly divided into two experimental and control groups (each group 15 people). The experimental group received their specific treatment in 8 sessions of 1.5 hours; But the control group did not receive any treatment. Measurement tools included Templer's death anxiety and Beck's hopelessness questionnaires. Data were analyzed by repeated measures ANOVA.The results showed that acceptance and commitment therapy compared to the control group, in the post-test, led to the reduction of death anxiety and hopelessness of patients with MS (p<0.001); And these results in the follow-up stage also show the durability of the effect (p<0.001). Acceptance and commitment therapy has probably reduced the anxiety of death and as a result cope better with the disease and reduce the despair of patients with MS.