Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Psychological Hardiness, Social Isolation and Loneliness of Women with Breast Cancer

[摘要] Background and objectives: There are alternative and complementary approaches for generalhealth issues and palliative care for women with breast cancer. This study aimed at evaluating theeffectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on psychological hardiness, socialisolation, and loneliness of women with breast cancer.Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design. The studypopulation consisted of all women with breast cancer who had been referred to the oncology wardof Shohada Tajrish Hospital in Tehran (Iran) in 2020. Thirty subjects were enrolled via purposivesampling and then assigned to an experimental group (n=15) and a control group (n=15). Theexperimental group received eight sessions of ACT interventions (90 minutes a session), and thecontrol group did not receive any intervention. The subjects were followed-up for eight weeksafter the last ACT session. Data were collected using the Lang and Goulet Psychological HardinessScale, Social Isolation Questionnaire, and the UCLA Loneliness Scale. The collected data wereanalyzed using repeated measures ANOVA.Results: The mean age of subjects and mean duration of marriage were 34.23±6.12 years and8.46±5.14 years, respectively. Based on the findings, the mean scores of psychological hardiness(p=0.005), social isolation (p=0.001), and loneliness (p=0.001) differed significantly between thestudy groups in the posttest stage.Conclusion: According to the results, it seems that ACT is effective in increasing psychologicalhardiness and reducing social isolation and loneliness of women with breast cancer.

[学科分类] 数学（综合）

[关键词] Acceptance and Commitment Therapy;Psychological Hardiness;Social Isolation;Loneliness;Breast Cancer