Iranian Journal of Rehabilitation Research in Nursing

Introduction: Chronic pain is a common problem that requires medical intervention and psychological management. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on depression, stress and indicators of pain in women with chronic pain.

Methods: The study method was semi-empirical and the population included women with chronic pain referred to hospitals affiliated of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. The study subjects were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. The instruments included chronic pain acceptance questionnaire (CPAQ), pain intensity scale (PIS), the short form of depression and stress scales (DASS-21), and a demographic questionnaire. The experimental group was exposed to eight two-hour sessions of ACT. Follow-up was one month after the last session of treatment. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) with SPSS-16 software.

Results: The results showed a significant difference between experimental and control groups in total scores of the symptoms of pain, depression and stress (P < 0.05). The acceptance of pain had a significant difference as well (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: The results emphasized the importance of this intervention in psychosomatic and chronic diseases and provided new horizons in clinical interventions.