Comparing the Effectiveness of Compassion-Focused Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Psychological Indicators and Quality of Life of Emergency Medical Workers with Corona

Background & Aims: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 or Covid-19 is an acute respiratory disease that is closely related to the Sars virus. Although all medical personnel is exposed to corona disease, emergency medical personnel are more exposed to this type of disease due to the special nature of their job. The uncertainty and low predictability of this disease not only threaten the physical health of people but also affects the mental health of emergency medical personnel in terms of emotions and cognition. Long-term negative emotions reduce people's immune function and destroy the balance of their normal defense mechanisms. So people may overreact to any illness, which can lead to destructive behaviors, worry, anger, and fear. According to the review of the sources, it can be stated that the occurrence of a sudden and life-threatening illness can create extraordinary pressure on the medical staff. Medical staff is particularly vulnerable to psychological and mental health problems such as aggression, anxiety, and depression, and their quality of life is affected. Depression, as one of the mental disorders, includes a wide range of emotional and mental states, from sadness and low self-esteem to emotional and physical disability. Anxiety is an unpleasant emotion that is usually described with words such as worry, anxiety, tension, and fear; Emotions that everyone experiences with different intensity. New studies have also shown that anxiety can increase or decrease the level of people's functions. Aggression is often a response to a person's expectations not being met or a response to behaviors that are considered unacceptable to the person. From a psychological point of view, aggression is defined as behavior aimed at hurting, annoying, or harming another person. The increase in psychological and physical problems observed in the life of medical workers leads to the configuration of a large volume of studies on how to increase the health level of this group of people. Measures should be taken to prevent and treat these cases. Among the treatments that can be used in this regard are the treatment focused on compassion and the treatment of acceptance and commitment. In acceptance and commitment therapy, the main goal is to create psychological flexibility. Acceptance and commitment therapy focuses less on reducing symptoms and more on increasing quality of life. On the other hand, some experts believe that the core of helping people is based on a sense of compassion. In compassion-based therapy, people learn not to avoid or suppress their painful feelings, so they can first recognize their experience and feel compassion for it. This plays a significant role in calming the mind and reducing stress and negative spontaneous thoughts. Additionally, self-compassion requires active and patient acceptance of difficult feelings. Due to being on the first line of dealing with this disease, emergency medical workers are more likely than others to be exposed to psychological disorders and extreme fluctuations in physical indicators. A cross-sectional study conducted on medical personnel in China during the outbreak of Covid- 19 has shown that among 512 personnel, about 164 had direct contact with an infected patient. Among them, the prevalence of anxiety was about 12.5%, of which 10.35% experienced mild anxiety, 1.36% experienced moderate anxiety, and about 0.78% experienced severe anxiety. The importance of conducting this research is because the more the number of psychological treatments including compassion-focused therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy increases, the more likely psychological indicators will decrease, including anxiety, stress, aggression, and the level of quality of life-related to their health. It is created and people can do their treatment tasks with more confidence. Methods:  The current research was of a semi-experimental type with a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up plan with a control group, which was conducted on 60 medical emergency workers infected with Corona in Mashhad in the year 1400 and the form of three groups (two experimental groups and one control group) was done. The treatment groups were compassion-focused therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy. The list of symptoms of mental disorders and the quality of life questionnaire were used to collect information. The interventions of the two groups were implemented as a group in the Skyroom software, and no intervention was done for the control group. Both experimental groups were exposed to treatment for 8 sessions of 90 minutes, but the control group was placed on the waiting list. After the end of the treatment, the post-test was performed for all three groups, and after three months after the last group meeting, the follow-up was done. After scoring, the obtained data were analyzed using SPSS-26 statistical software. Results:  Based on the results of this study, there was a significant difference between the three stages of pre-test, post-test, and follow-up related to psychological indicators and quality of life in the experimental groups of treatment focused on compassion, treatment of acceptance and commitment, and the control group (P<0.05 ). Conclusion: The results of the present study indicated that the treatment focused on compassion and the treatment of acceptance and commitment improve psychological indicators and quality of life. It is suggested that in future comparative studies, the effectiveness of two treatment approaches focused on compassion and acceptance and commitment therapy on physiological characteristics (heart rate and blood pressure) and other psychological outcomes of patients with corona should be studied. The findings of this research were about emergency medical workers in Mashhad, so the generalization of the findings with other samples and statistical societies should be done with caution. The self-reporting of the tools used and the purposeful sampling method are other limitations of this research that must be taken into account.