Sayed Mostafa Abdollahi; Amin Rafiepoor; Mehrdad Sabet
Abstract
Objective: Considering the possible role of psychological factors in the process of cardiovascular disease and also the fact that these factors interact with biological agents to produce effects on cardiovascular disease, the present study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment ...
Read More
Objective: Considering the possible role of psychological factors in the process of cardiovascular disease and also the fact that these factors interact with biological agents to produce effects on cardiovascular disease, the present study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on mental health, hopefulness and meaningfulness in people with cardiovascular disease.
Method: The present study was a semi-experimental research with pre-test, post-test and control group. The study population included all cardiovascular patients who were referred to Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Center in January to March 2017, and had a history of myocardial infarction or open heart surgery in the last month. Among them, 30 patients were selected to participate in the study. The subjects were randomly assigned into the experimental and control groups. Data were obtained using Snyder Hope Questionnaire, Meaning-seeking Questionnaire, and General Health Questionnaire, which were analyzed by repeated measure ANOVA and SPSS 22.
Results: The results indicate that there is a significant difference between the mean scores of acceptance and commitment therapy and control group on physical symptoms (F=355.21, P<0.0001), anxiety (F=183.51, P<0.0001), social functional dysfunction (F=77.42, P<0.0001), depression (F=233.32, P<0.0001), hopefulness (F=28.59, P<0.0001) and meaningfulness (F=134.92, P<0.0001) in people with cardiovascular disease.
Conclusion: In acceptance and commitment therapy, accepting the psychological inflexibility and avoiding the acceptance of annoying feelings and thoughts, leads to the strengthening of these feelings and their further thoughts. In this approach, patients are helped to focus on the present time and identifying their values instead of living in the past and future, and to act in accordance with their values and goals, even in spite of existing annoying thoughts and feelings.