The Effect of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Depression and Psychological Flexibility in Women With Breast Cancer

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. Many women with breast cancer suffer from depression and psychological distress. Objectives: The present study by the purpose of examining the effect of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on depression and psychological flexibility in women with breast cancer was performed. Patients and Methods: The method of this research was semi-experimental, and statistic society of this research was women with breast cancer in Isfahan. In this research available sampling method was used and among patients admitted to Seyed-al-Shohada Hospital and who had registered to participate in the research, 20 people were selected randomly and they were randomly divided to two groups of control and experiment. Research tool consisted of beck depression inventory (BDI-II), acceptance and action questionnaire (AAQ-II), and demographic questionnaire. Experimental group received 8 sessions of 2 hour acceptance and commitment group therapy. Follow-up stage was performed at one month after the last treatment session. Results: Results showed that ACT significantly decreased scores on the BDI-II and increased score on AAQ-II compared to the control group (P < 0.001). Conclusions: ACT may be considered to be an effective intervention approach for treatment of depression in women with breast cancer. It can be said that increasing in acceptance of thought and feeling associated with cancer and increasing in psychological flexibility that is the main goal of ACT has led to these changes.