Abstract
Background and aims: The present study aimed to determine the effect of acceptance and commitment therapy on perceived stress,
resilience, and the quality of life in thalassemia major patients in Lordegan during 2015-2016.
Methods: This semi-experimental study used the pre-test and post-test designs with a control group and period. The samples included 40
patients with thalassemia major who referred to Lordegan Shohada hospital, were selected by the purposeful sampling technique based
on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group received
eight-week sessions of the acceptance and commitment-based therapy, while the control group received no intervention until the end of
the study. The data were collected by the perceived stress questionnaire (Cohen et al), Researcher Conner and Davison Resilience Scale,
and the World Health Organization Quality of Life (SF-26). Finally, the obtained data were analyzed using the SPSS software, repeated
measure, and covariance tests
Results: The results showed that there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of the perceived
stress, resilience, and the quality of life (P<0.001). In addition, based on the results, 66% of the changes in the perceived stress scores,
81% of the difference in the resiliency scores, and 75% of the difference in the quality of life scores were related to the impact of therapy
based on the acceptance and group commitment. Further, the results of the analysis variance of the internal group revealed that the effect
of therapy based on the acceptance and commitment on the perceived stress, resilience, and the quality of life had a significant difference
in pretest, posttest, and follow-up stages.
Conclusion: In general, the therapy based on the acceptance and commitment is found to be a useful practice in reducing the perceived
stress while increasing the resilience and improving the quality of life in patients with thalassemia major.