Comparing of the Effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Emotion Regulation Training on Diabetes Empowerment

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a widely diffused chronic condition that affects several aspects of patients’ lives. The patient’s life in this condition depends on diabetes management ability. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Emotion Regulation Training (ERT) on the diabetes empowerment of patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test, post-test-follow-up and a control group design. Of the statistical population of patients referring to the Diabetes Prevention and Control Center of Mashhad Province, Iran, 45 subjects were recruited by convenience sampling method; they were randomly assigned into three groups of ACT, ERT, and control (n=15/group). The study subjects were assessed using the Diabetes Empowerment Scale (F-DES-28) in the pre-test stage, after the intervention, and 3 months later. The obtained data were analyzed by repeated-measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) in SPSS V. 22. Results: Both provided interventions presented a significant effect on the empowerment of the research subjects, compared to the controls (P<0.001). The effectiveness of ACT on the diabetes empowerment of patients was significantly higher than that of the ERT group (P=0.04). Conclusion: It is recommended to use ACT and ERT to empower patients with type 2 diabetes.

Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Depression and Anxiety in People with Substance Use Disorder

Background: The comorbidity of substance use, mood disorders, and anxiety has been proven in various studies, leading to many clinical implications. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in depression and anxiety in individuals with substance use disorder. Methods: This quasi-experimental study utilized a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population consisted of all people with substance abuse in Urmia in 2019, including 220 subjects. The sample consisted of 50 individuals with substance use disorders selected by purposive sampling and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group was trained in eight sessions, each lasting 90 min, based on the ACT protocol by Hayes et al. (2004), while the control group did not receive any intervention. The data were obtained using the Beck Depression Inventory and Beck Anxiety Inventory. Pretest and posttest were performed in both groups. The collected data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) using SPSS23 software. Results: The results showed that after controlling for the pretest effects, a significant difference was observed between the mean posttest scores of the two groups in both depression and anxiety (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Acceptance and commitment therapy is an appropriate strategy to effectively improve depression and anxiety in people with substance use disorder.

Mindfulness-Based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is one of the latest mindfulness-based behavior therapies shown to have compelling evidence and efficacy with a wide range of clinical conditions. ACT is so hard to categorize that it is often described as an amalgamation of existential, humanistic, cognitive-behavioural therapy. ACT is often referred as process-based CBT and is one of the ‘third-wave' of behavioural therapies. It is currently the fastest growing evidence-based therapy in the world, with currently at least 304 Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) being recorded all over the world. It has proven effective in different cultural contexts with a diverse set of clinical conditions, from depression, Obsessive-compulsive disorder, chronic pain, grief, loss and terminal illness, anxiety, and workplace stress.

Improving well-being with mobile AI-powered Acceptance Commitment Therapy tool: Pragmatic Retrospective Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND The research and dissemination of smartphones-based apps to deliver coaching and psychological driven intervention had seen a great surge in recent years. Notably, Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) protocols were shown to be uniquely effective in treating symptoms for both depression and anxiety when delivered through smartphone apps. The aim if this study to expand on that work and test the suitability of AI driven intervention delivered directly through popular texting apps. OBJECTIVE This study evaluated our hypothesis that using Kai.ai will result in improved well-being. METHODS A pragmatic retrospective analysis of 2909 users who used Kai.ai on one of the top messaging apps (iMessage, WhatsApp, Discord, Telegram, etc.) Users’ well-being levels were tracked using the WHO-5 well-being questionnaire throughout the engagement with service. Paired sample t-test was used to assess well-being levels pre and post usage, and Hierarchical Linear Modeling was used to examine the change in symptoms over time. RESULTS The median well-being score at the last measurement was better (Mdn = 52) then at the start of the intervention (Mdn = 40), indicating a significant improvement (W=2682927, p<.001, one tailed test). Furthermore, HLM results showed that the improvement in well-being was linearly related to the number of daily messages a user sent (beta =.029, t(81.36)=4, p<.001), as well as the interaction between the number of messages and unique number of days (beta = -.0003, t(81.36)=-2.2, p<.028). CONCLUSIONS mobile based Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) interventions are effective means to improve individuals’ well-being. findings reported in this paper further demonstrate Kai.ai’s great promise in helping individuals improve and maintain high levels of well-being, and thus improve their daily life.

Psychoeducation Strategy: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) To Improve Self-Efficacy of Stroke Patients

Background: Stroke is the most common cerebrovascular event. Stroke patients often have biological, spiritual, and psychosocial changes. Psychosocial problems experienced in stroke patients include problems with self-efficacy. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is commonly used to solve psychosocial problems. Objective: This study aims to determine the effect of ACT on the self-efficacy of stroke patients. Methods: This study utilized quantitative and quasi-experimental designs without a control group. The study was conducted in a selected hospital rehabilitation unit in Yogyakarta. The respondents were selected via the purposive sampling technique. The self-efficacy was assessed using The Strategies Used by Patients to Promote Health (SUPPH) questionnaires and statistically tested with the Wilcoxon test. The total number of respondents of this study was 33 stroke patients. The characteristic of respondents was mostly 45 – 64 years old (72.73% ), male (57.6%) and, had a history of stroke for 1 – 6 months (39 %). Result: Wilcoxon test results showed a computed p-value of 0.000 on the effect of ACT on stroke patients’ self-efficacy; thus, the null hypothesis was rejected. In other words, ACT proves its effectiveness in improving stroke patients’ self-efficacy. Conclusion: Based on the data, this research can be concluded that ACT effectively improved the self-efficacy of stroke patients. The researchers recommend utilizing ACT as a nursing intervention for stroke patients in the hospital rehabilitation unit.

Improving well-being with mobile AI-powered Acceptance Commitment Therapy tool: Pragmatic Retrospective Study

Background The research and dissemination of smartphones-based apps to deliver coaching and psychological driven intervention had seen a great surge in recent years. Notably, Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) protocols were shown to be uniquely effective in treating symptoms for both depression and anxiety when delivered through smartphone apps. The aim if this study to expand on that work and test the suitability of AI driven intervention delivered directly through popular texting apps.Objective This study evaluated our hypothesis that using Kai.ai will result in improved well-being.Methods A pragmatic retrospective analysis of 2909 users who used Kai.ai on one of the top messaging apps (iMessage, WhatsApp, Discord, Telegram, etc.) Users’ well-being levels were tracked using the WHO-5 well-being questionnaire throughout the engagement with service. Paired sample t-test was used to assess well-being levels pre and post usage, and Hierarchical Linear Modeling was used to examine the change in symptoms over time.Results The median well-being score at the last measurement was better (Mdn = 52) then at the start of the intervention (Mdn = 40), indicating a significant improvement (W=2682927, p&lt;0.001, one tailed test). Furthermore, HLM results showed that the improvement in well-being was linearly related to the number of daily messages a user sent (beta = 0.029, t(81.36)=4, p&lt;0.001), as well as the interaction between the number of messages and unique number of days (beta = -0.0003, t(81.36)=-2.2, p&lt;0.05).Conclusions mobile based Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) interventions are effective means to improve individuals’ well-being. findings reported in this paper further demonstrate Kai.ai’s great promise in helping individuals improve and maintain high levels of well-being, and thus improve their daily life.