A Study of Factor Structure of Persian Version of Acceptance and Action Questionnaire in People with Cancer

Cancer is the result of abnormal growth of the cells with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body which affects psychological patients’ aspects. Some of mental health disorders in cancer patients are due to lack of psychological flexibility. An assessment tool that can be used on these patients will be helpful to prepare patients not only for surgery but also after surgery. This study aimed to determine the factor structure of the Persian version of acceptance and action questionnaire (AAQ-II) in the cancer patients. This study was a cross-sectional study in which 95 cancer patients that admitted to Firoozgar Hospital in Tehran participated in the study. The Persian version of acceptance and action questionnaire (AAQ-II), Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS) and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) were used to this study. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis methods, convergent-divergent validity were used to examine the validity of the study. The internal consistency coefficient was used to reliability. Data analysis was performed in IBM SPSS 22 and Amos 22 software. Exploratory factor analysis by principle component analysis and Varimax rotation indicated that the two factors are extractable from the Persian version of the scale (named as feelings and worries and negative memories) and the fitting indices confirmed the results of the confirmatory factor analysis of the dual factors. Correlation coefficients between the scores with other valid tools, Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS) and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), showed that the convergence and divergence validity of the scale is acceptable and the Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.824) confirmed internal consistency. The Persian version of AAQ-II in cancer patients was resulted two-factor structure, and it seems that it is more appropriate than single-factor structure and suggested. This questionnaire can be used for cancer patients before surgery.