Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Intervention on Healthy Lifestyle and Self-Care Indicators in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

Background: It is necessary to help type 2 diabetic patients solve diabetes problems by identifying factors affecting healthy lifestyle and self-care indicators that can be improved using different psychological approaches. This research aimed at determining the effectiveness of the acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) intervention on healthy lifestyle and self-care indicators in type 2 diabetic patients. Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up with a control group. The statistical population of the study consisted of patients with type 2 diabetes in the age range of 30-60 years at the Diabetes Clinic of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences in 2019. The sample included 40 patients with type 2 diabetes selected by a convenient sampling method and assigned to ACT (n = 20) and control (n = 20) groups using a simple randomization method. ACT training was performed in 9 sessions for 90 minutes. Data were collected through the lifestyle questionnaire and self-care behavior questionnaire and analyzed by the multivariate analysis of covariance using SPSS 22. Results: The findings indicated that ACT was effective in increasing healthy lifestyle (P = 0.022) and self-care indices (P 0.001) in type 2 diabetic patients. Conclusion: Overall, ACT could affect healthy lifestyle and self-care indicators in type 2 diabetic patients. Thus, it can be used for decreasing type 2 diabetic patients’ psychological problems.