The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on Internalized Shame of Abused Women

Abstract

Ill-parented women are at risk Among vulnerable group and they have critical problems in some domains such as social, emotional and economic. Yet little has been written about the Internalized shame as one of their big problems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on internalized shame in Ill-parented women. In this study which was a Quasi-Experimental with pre-test, post-test and control group, the sample group was selected by available sampling method from women referred to Tehran’s NGO. Therefore 30 female subjects were chosen randomly and assigned to two control & experimental groups (each with 15 subjects) and were evaluated based on Internalized Shame of women under the Mehr association of Tehran. To assess Internalized Shame, Cook's Internalized Shame Questionnaire was used respectively in pre-test and post-test. The experimental group experienced the treatment based on commitment and acceptance therapy and the control group did not receive any treatment. Data were analyzed by analysis of Covariance. The results emphasize the importance of this intervention in internalized shame and provide an effective treatment for clinical interventions