مجله علوم روانشناختی (Aug 2023)
The efficacy of acceptance and commitment therapy on psychological distress and dysfunctional attitudes
Abstract
Background: The research indicates that dysfunctional attitudes and psychological distress are among the most important structures that can cause problems to people's health. In addition, the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment-based therapy on these structures in women has conflicting results, requiring more research in this field. Aims: This research aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment-based therapy on women's psychological distress and dysfunctional attitudes. Method: The current study was practical and semi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The research's statistical population included all women referred to Khavaran Cultural Center in 2020. The research sample consisted of 30 women selected by the available sampling and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. They completed the Beck et al. dysfunctional attitudes questionnaire (1991) and Kessler et al. psychological distress questionnaire (2002) in two phases, pre-test and post-test, and received an acceptance and commitment-based therapy trial group (Wells and Sorrell, 2007). After collecting the data, the data were analyzed using multivariate covariance analysis using SPSSV19 software. Results: The results showed a significant difference between the two experimental and control groups in the post-test stage (p<0.01), which indicates the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment-based therapy in the variables of ineffective attitudes and psychological distress. Conclusion: The women who participated in acceptance and commitment-based training obtained lower scores in ineffective attitudes and psychological distress in the post-test than before participating in the said program compared to the group that did not participate. This issue indicated the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment-based education in research variables.
