The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Mental Health, Hopefulness and Meaningfulness in People with Cardiovascular Disease

Objective: Considering the possible role of psychological factors in the process of cardiovascular disease and also the fact that these factors interact with biological agents to produce effects on cardiovascular disease, the present study aimed at evaluation of the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on mental health, hopefulness and meaningfulness in people with cardiovascular disease. Method: The present study was a semi-experimental research with pre-test, post-test and control group. The study population included all cardiovascular patients who were referred to Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Center between January to March 2017 and had a history of myocardial infarction or open heart surgery in the last month. Among them, 30 patients were selected to participate in the study. The subjects were randomly assigned to the case and control groups. Data were obtained using Snyder Hope Questionnaire, Meaning-seeking Questionnaire, and General Health Questionnaire and analyzed by repeated measure ANOVA and SPSS.22. Results: The results indicate that there is a significant difference between the mean scores of acceptance and commitment therapy and control group on physical symptoms (F=355.21, P<0.0001), anxiety (F=183.51, P<0.0001), social functional dysfunction (F=77.42, P<0.0001), depression (F=233.32, P<0.0001), hopefulness (F=28.59, P<0.0001) and meaningfulness (F=134.92, P<0.0001) in people with cardiovascular disease. Conclusion: In acceptance and commitment therapy, acceptance of psychological inflexibility and avoidance of accepting annoying feelings and thoughts, leads to the strengthening of these feelings and their further thoughts and annoyances. In this approach, patients are helped to focus on the present and identify their values instead of living in the past and future, and to act in accordance with their values and goals, even in spite of annoying thoughts and feelings.