Effect of Acceptance and Commitment Group Therapy (ACT) on the Hardness and Perceived Stress Coefficient Among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is the most common chronic disease that makes a lot of restrictions for patients and their families. Therefore, improving the psychological characteristics of these people has been considered by many therapists. The present research aimed to determine the impact of acceptance and commitment group therapy on hardness and perceived stress coefficient in patients with type 2 diabetes.
This experimental study was a pre-test and post-test design with a control group. The statistical population of this research included all patients with type 2 diabetes who referred to health care centers of Ahvaz city in 2015. Totally 30 patients were selected by convenience sampling method and randomly divided into two equal groups. The experimental group received 8 sessions of 90 minutes by group therapy approach based on acceptance and commitment. Groups completed the perceived stress and hardness coefficient questionnaires. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance method.
The findings showed that there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in the variables of perceived stress and hardness coefficient. In the other words, the acceptance and commitment group therapy method significantly increased the hardness factor and decreased perceived stress among patients with type 2 diabetes.
Considering the effect of group therapy based on acceptance and commitment on perceived stress and hardness, it is suggested counselors and therapists use this mentioned method to increase the hardness factor and reduce perceived stress in patients with type 2 diabetes.