Comparison of the effectiveness of ACT therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy on life expectancy and blood hemoglobin in patients with thalassemia major

Thalassemia patients are associated with a wide range of serious psychological and clinical challenges and, like any other chronic disease, the psychological state of individuals is affected. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of act therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy on life expectancy and hemoglobin levels in patients with thalassemia major.

The research method was quasi-experimental with pre-test design, post-test with control group. A total of 75 thalassemia major patients referred to Imam Ali Hospital in Karaj who were eligible for the study were identified and randomly assigned to three groups of 25 (two intervention groups and one control group). For the first group, act therapy was performed in 8 sessions and in the second group, cognitive-behavioral therapy was performed in 8 sessions, and the control group received routine care.

Mixed analysis of variance was used to analyze the data. The results showed that the effect of treatment (act) and cognitive-behavioral therapy on increasing life expectancy in patients with thalassemia major (P = 0.001) was statistically significant compared to the control group. Also, the increase in mean life expectancy in act therapy was more than cognitive-behavioral therapy and was statistically significant (P <0.001). But there was no significant difference in hemoglobin level between experimental and control groups.

Considering the effectiveness of treatment (act) and cognitive-behavioral therapy on life expectancy in patients with thalassemia major, the results of this study can be used in real applications.