Comparison of the Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment based Therapy and Emotion-focused Therapy on Adherence to Treatment in Cardiac Patients

Introduction:The role of adherence to treatment in many chronic diseases, including heart disease, has been confirmed. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Emotion-Focused Therapy on adherence to treatment in Cardiac Patients. Method: This is a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design with control group. The statistical population of all patients referring to Dr. HeshmatRasht Hospital during February to March 2019 were available by purposeful sampling methodand then the samples were randomly divided into two experimental and one control groups. Data collection tools were demographic questionnaire and standardized adherence to treatment questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and analysis of covariance by SPSS software, version 25. Results: outcomes showed that acceptance and commitment therapy and emotion focused therapy were effective on Adherence to treatment (P<0.001). Also, the results of the covariance showed that, there was a significant difference between the groups' adjusted averages for adherence (ETA= 0.804, P= 0.001, F (2,41)=83.904). In other words, there is a significant difference between the two experimental methods onAdherence to treatment in cardiac patients (acceptance and commitment therapy and emotion-focused therapy) with the control group. Conclusion:According to the results of this study, training of above mentioned therapies can play an important role as adjunctive and rehabilitation therapy along with medical treatments by increasing adherence to treatment.