Comparison of the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy with health-promoting lifestyle intervention on disease perception and adjustment to type 2 diabetes

In this study, two well-known therapies that have had acceptable efficacy on diabetes are compared with each other. In fact, the purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and the Diabetes Self-Care Program (DSMP) that is a health-promoting lifestyle intervention on diabetes adjustment and perception.

A number of 60 patients referred to Tehran Diabetes Clinics were selected and randomly assigned to three groups of 20 patients: one group under ACT intervention, one group under DSMP intervention and one control group that did not receive any intervention. All groups received medicine. All three groups were examined in three stages, before and after intervention and follow-up study by diabetes adjustment and diabetes perception questionnaire. Then, the collected data analyzed by descriptive statistics and mixed variance analysis (Intragroup, intergroup and interactive).

The results show that both ACT and DSMP methods are effective in improving disease adaptation (F = 5/515, P value <0.001) and disease perception (F = 0.665, P value <0.001). The follow-up phase also maintains its effectiveness. Also, a comparison of the two treatments shows that the ACT method is more effective than the DSMP method.

It seems that Act protocol for type 2 diabetic patients can be significantly more effective than DSMP. It seems that the acceptance factor, values, commitment and other hexagonal factors of ACT can lead patients to a better understanding of diabetes, which may improve their adaptation and self-care behaviors.