The Effect of Acceptance and Commitment Training on Quality of Life and Resilience of Nurses

Nurses need effective psychological interventions to improve quality of their life and promote resiliency to professional and social challenges. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment group therapy on quality of life and resilience of nurses. This study was an experimental research investigation, using pre-post and follow-up testing plans with a control group. The statistical population was all nurses working in hospital in 22 different areas of Tehran. Among them, one hospital (Khatam Alanbia) was selected by multi stage cluster sampling technique, and then randomly 40 nurses were selected and placed into two control and experimental groups. The experimental group participated in a twelve-session group therapy based on acceptance and commitment plan for 12 weeks, while the control group received no intervention. In order to collect data, the WHOQOL questionnaire and the Connor-Davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC) was used. The results showed that acceptance and commitment training was significantly improved their quality of life (F1,28=9.1; P=0.005) and resilience (F1,28=12.3; P=0.002). In the follow-up studies, this effect was significantly permanent on quality of life (F1,28=9.9; P=0.004) and resilience (F1,28=13.66; P=0.001) of nurses. Improving skills using acceptance and commitment training can be considered as an ideal method for increasing resilience and improving the quality of life of nurses.