The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Psychological Distress and Medication Adherence of Coronary Heart Patients

Introduction: Psychological distress and lack of medication adherence is an important problem in patients with coronary artery disease. The aim of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on psychological distress and medication adherence of patients with coronary artery disease in Isfahan. Methods: The research design was semi-experimental with pre-test and post-test, control group, and a 1-month follow-up. For this purpose, among patients with coronary artery disease, who were referred to cardiovascular clinics of Isfahan in the first 6 months of 2015, 2 clinics were selected and 30 patients were selected by available sampling and distributed in 2 groups of experiment and control, randomly (15 individuals in each group). Participants completed psychological distress and medication adherence scale before and after the intervention and one month later, during follow up. The experimental group participated in 8 sessions (90-minute each) of acceptance and commitment therapy (Hayes, 2010), yet no intervention was carried out for the control group. Results: Repeated measures analysis showed a significant difference between the 2 groups in psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and stress) and medication adherence (P < 0.05). Conclusions: According to the results, using acceptance and commitment therapy is useful to improve psychological distress and medication adherence of coronary artery disease patients in Isfahan.