Comparing the effectiveness of interventions based on acceptance and commitment (ACT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) with and without exercise on coping strategies and patience of substance-dependent patients with chronic pain

Various factors, including the type of coping style and patience, can be effective in the management of substance dependence and chronic pain. In this study, we intend to investigate the effect of using coping strategies and patience on the control of chronic pain in substance-dependent patients using acceptance and commitment strategies (ACT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) with and without exercise.

The research method was semi-experimental with pre-test, post-test with two-month follow-up and control group. Seventy-five volunteer patients with chronic pain entered the study with a targeted method and were randomly assigned to groups (ACT and DBT with and without exercise and control group). The data were collected using the pain coping strategies questionnaire (Rosenstein and Keifi, 1983) and the patience questionnaire (Khormai, Farmani and Soltani, 2014) and then using the ANOVA statistical methods, analysis of variance with repeated measurements and We analyzed Bonferroni post hoc test in spss software version 26. The significance level of the tests was considered 0.05.

Variance analysis with repeated measurements, for ACT and DBT interventions with and without exercise for the within-group effect (time) in three stages of evaluation in the variables of coping with pain and patience at the level (P≤0.001), and for interaction Time and group were also significant at the level (P≤0.001). In addition, based on the results of the group effect test in the three stages of evaluation, the difference between the groups in the variable of coping with pain and patience is significant at the level (P≤0.01) and finally ACT with exercise is more efficient than other interventions for The improvement of strategies to cope with pain and patience had a level of (P≤0.001).

Since coping strategies and patience can help control chronic pain and recovery of people, according to the results of the present study, it is suggested that to improve coping strategies and patience and control relapse in substance dependent patients with chronic pain from ACT therapy should be used along with exercise.