Effect of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on Quality of Life, Mental Health and Self-care Behavior in Breast Cancer Patients

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women which leaves a profound impact on psychosocial health, and quality of life in women, therefore the aim of this study was investigation the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on Quality of life, mental health and self-care behavior in breast cancer patients. Methods: In a pretest-posttest experimental design with control group, using available sampling method, 30 patients with breast cancer who were admitted to the Specialty Clinic of Gynecological Diseases of Women Jahad University and Mahdieh Hospital in Tehran in the first trimester. They were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups in 2018. The experimental group underwent acceptance and commitment based treatment for two months and the scores of Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF), Mental Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) and self-care behaviors (SCQ) before and after the intervention and at the follow-up phase of one. Months and a half were collected in both groups and analyzed using ANOVA. Results: Results have showed that in experimental group, ACT significantly increased Quality of life (P ˂ 0.05), mental health (P ˂ 0.05) and self-care behavior (P ˂ 0.05), breast cancer patients through post-test and follow up. Conclusions: Results of this study reveal the effectiveness of commitment therapy (ACT) on Quality of life, mental health and self-care behavior in breast cancer patients. According to these results and the mechanism of its effectiveness, this therapy can has good therapeutic implications.