The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Self-Compassion and Distress Tolerance in Women with Cardiovascular Diseases

Purpose: Cardiovascular disease is one of the most common causes of death among non-communicable diseases. Objective: The present study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on distress tolerance and compassion in women with cardiovascular problems. Method: The research method was semi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population consisted of female patients suffering from cardiovascular problems referred to the heart department of Imam Reza (AS) Amol Hospital in 1401-1402, 30 of whom were selected by available sampling method and divided into two treatment groups: acceptance and commitment (15 people) and control group (15). people) were placed. To collect data, Simon and Gaher (2005) distress tolerance scale and Neff (2003) compassion scale were used. The training group received Hayes et al.'s (2011) acceptance and commitment therapy for 8 sessions of 45 minutes. The data was analyzed using covariance analysis method with spss software version 22. Findings: The results of covariance analysis showed that there is a significant difference between the scores of the control and experimental groups (P=0.001). So that the treatment of acceptance and commitment led to an increase in distress tolerance and compassion in women with cardiovascular problems (P<0.05). Conclusion: Based on the obtained results, acceptance and commitment therapy was a suitable method to improve distress tolerance and compassion-exercise in women with cardiovascular problems. Due to the effectiveness of this method, it is suggested to be used along with other treatment methods to improve these variables in these women.