Comparison of the Effectiveness of Two Models of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Compassion Focused Therapy on Psychological Well-being and Quality of Life of Individuals with Human Immunodeficiency Viruses

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is one of the biggest challenges in human life that requires a variety of psychological support. The aim of this research was to compare the effect of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and compassion focused therapy (CFT) on psychological well-being and quality of life in individuals diagnosed with HIV.

This research was a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design with two experimental groups and one control group. The statistical population included all HIV positive patients referred to Tehran center of behavioral disorders between October and February 2018, among which 45 patients were selected by convenience sampling method and randomly assigned into three groups (two experimental groups and one control group, n=15). One of the experimental groups underwent ACT for 8 session of 120 minutes and another received CFT for 8 sessions of 120 minutes. The control group receivedno intervention. To collect data, Ryff Psychological well-being (1989) and Ware & Sherbourne (1992) quality of life scales were used. Data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics (analysis of covariance).

The results showed that both acceptance and commitment therapyand compassion focused therapyhad effects on psychological well-being and quality of life in patients with HIV (p<0.05), however, the effect of compassion focused therapy was more noticeable on the psychological dimension of quality of life (p<0.05). Regarding other variables, no significant difference was found between two treatments.

Both acceptance and commitment therapy models and compassion-focused therapy can increase the psychological well-being and quality of life of people with HIV. Therefore, it is recommended to behavioral disease centers to use this protocol to increase the psychological well-being and quality of life of patients with HIV.