Effectiveness of group acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on Self-care and HbA1C in type II diabetic patients

Diabetes is a chronic disease which involves a high risk of disability and death, especially when the lifestyle of the patient doesn’t fit the patient’s illness, following up to medical treatment is low or irregular and the person does not adhere to self-care behaviors. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of group acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on self-care and HbA1C in type II diabetes.

This experimental research used an available sampling with pre-test post-test design with control group. 60 clients of diabetes who were referred to the oil industry hospital were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The intervention group, in addition to its routine medical treatment, received ACT treatment in 8 sessions of 120-minute in weekly sessions. While the control group only continued their routine medical treatment. The execution time of self-care questionnaire was weekly and blood test in both groups was before and after the implementation of the study.

Covariance analysis tests was used to analyze data of HbA1C and repeated measurements was used for self-care dates. Results showed that in the intervention group, the level of HbA1C was significantly lower (P<0.001) and Self-care behaviors increased significantly every 8 weeks (P<0.001) compared to the control group.

Considering the findings of this study, the acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) can be effective in improving the type-2 diabetes self-care and reducing levels of HbA1C leading to decreased morbidity and mortality rate.