The Effectiveness of Group Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on Life Satisfaction among Mothers of Children with Cancer

The current research was carried out to study the effectiveness of group acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on life satisfaction among mothers of children with cancer. The research sample was consisted of all the mothers with children suffering from cancer who referred to Mahak Hospital in Tehran city.
The research method is quasi experimental design with pretest and posttest and control group. 32 people were selected by convenience sampling method from clients referring to the Mahak Hospital and assigned into two experimental and control groups randomly(n=16). The instrument used was Diener’s Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). The intervention period for the experimental group was 8 sessions of 90 minutes.
Data were analyzed by using the one-way ANCOVA (analysis of covariance). The results showed that group acceptance and commitment therapy has led to the increase of life satisfaction among mothers of children suffering from cancer in the experimental group.
According to the obtained effect index, 34% of improvement and enhancement of life satisfaction among mothers of the children with cancer in experimental group can be attributed to the group acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT).
To explain the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy in life satisfaction among mothers of the children with cancer, it can be said that many mothers deny the reality of their child's diagnosis that group acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) leads to improvement in life satisfaction through acceptation of unavoidable and unpleasant feelings.