PURPOSE: The purposes of this study were to develop an acceptance commitment-based cognitive behavioral program for patients with schizophrenia and to use it as an intervention tool for psychiatric mental health nursing and thereby confirm the program's effects on patients' psychological flexibility, psychological well-being, and treatment adherence including insight and attitude toward treatment. METHODS: This study consisted of a pretest, posttest 1, and posttest 2 for a nonequivalent control group design. The participants were 42 patients with schizophrenia (experimental group: 21, control group: 21). The acceptance commitment-based cognitive behavioral program was conducted in 10 sessions for 5 weeks. Data collected from February to April 2018 were analyzed using the SPSS/WIN 25.0 for χ2 test, Fisher's exact test, independent t-test, and repeated measurement ANOVA. RESULTS: The differences between experimental and control groups were statistically significant regarding psychological flexibility, psychological well-being, and insight. CONCLUSION: This study findings suggest that the acceptance commitment-based cognitive behavioral program can be used as an effective mental health nursing intervention for psychological flexibility, psychological well-being, and insight of patients with schizophrenia.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ; Humans ; Mental Health ; Pliability ; Psychiatric Nursing ; Schizophrenia

The purpose of this study was to introduce acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for diabetes educators and review its effectiveness on diabetes patient self-care and mental health. ACT can reduce disease burden by reducing cognitive fusion and experiential avoidance. Psychotherapy such as ACT may be a useful intervention for helping diabetes patients to improve self-care and mental health conditions. Diabetes educators should make continuous efforts to practice ACT for patients in clinical settings.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy* ; Cognitive Therapy ; Depression ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Humans ; Mental Health* ; Psychotherapy ; Self Care

Mindfulness-based psychotherapy, known as the third-wave cognitive behavior therapy, showed a multi-cultural integration trend. As part of it, willing acceptance and commitment therapy not only took root in the discoveries in the fields of evolutionary psychology and cognitive psychology, but also absorbed the concepts of psychotherapy from Chinese traditional culture. As a result, it regards truth and harmony as the essence of health, proposes a triangle model (health/pain-willing acceptance-striving) to elucidate the mechanism of psychopathology and psychotherapy in theory. Operationally, it contains four principles of psychotherapy, which are as follow: "knowing yourself and others, reaction but adequately, reality as well as harmony, willing acceptance and striving". Furthermore, it proposes eight therapeutic procedures including "understand yourself, recognize suffering, check coping style, keep openness and acceptance, mindfulness and flexibility, live in the moment, clarify the value, and commit action". With these principles and procedures, willing acceptance and commitment therapy aims to fade the neural trace of patients' painful memories, improve their psychological flexibility and rebuild their lifestyles consistent with their values.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ; Adaptation, Psychological ; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy ; Humans ; Mindfulness ; Stress, Psychological

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to (1) develop an acceptance commitment therapy (ACT) based recovery enhancement program for inpatients with mental illness and (2) test the effects of the program on patients' psychological flexibility, recovery attitude, and quality of life. METHODS: A mixed methods design was used: a combination of a repeated-measure design with a non-equivalent control group and qualitative data collection. The participants were 41 inpatients with mental illness (experimental group: 20, control group: 21). The ACT based recovery enhancement program was conducted over four sessions for a total of two weeks. Data were collected from December 2018 to January 2019. RESULTS: Study results revealed that the ACT based recovery enhancement program was effective for psychological flexibility (F=150.71, p<.001), recovery attitude (F=60.22, p<.001), and quality of life (F=31.59, p<.001) for inpatients with mental illness. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that the ACT based recovery enhancement program can be used as an effective mental health nursing intervention for psychological flexibility, recovery attitude, and quality of life of inpatients with mental illness.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ; Data Collection ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Mental Disorders ; Pliability ; Psychiatric Nursing ; Quality of Life

PURPOSE: The aims of this study was to evaluate the effects of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for chronic pain patients. METHODS: Based on the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses, we searched the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, EMBASE, OVID, PubMed and Korean databases to identify randomized controlled trials published through May 2019. To estimate the effect size, a meta-analysis of the studies was performed using the R program, and the risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane's Risk of Bias tool for randomized studies. RESULTS: A total of 11 studies were included in this study. Studies were heterogeneous, and random effects models were used in the analyses. ACT was effective for improving pain (g=−0.40, 95%CI:−0.69~−1.12, p<.001, I2=80%), pain acceptance (g=1.24, 95% CI:0.41~2.05, p<.001, I²=95%), anxiety (g=−0.47, 95% CI:−0.81~−0.13, p<.001, I²=84%), depression (g=−0.52, 95% CI:−0.85~−0.19, p<.001, I²=85%), and quality of life (g=1.14, 95% CI:0.11~2.17, p<.001, I²=95%). CONCLUSION: Our study findings of the ACT seems to be effective for improving pain, pain acceptance, anxiety, depression, and quality of life in patients with chronic pain. Additionally, ACT may be useful for reducing barriers to therapy, and various studies should be attempted.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ; Anxiety ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Chronic Pain ; Depression ; Humans ; Quality of Life

Depressive disorders are psychiatric diseases that have a high recurrent rate. Therefore, several psychosocial treatments have been tried to prevent recurrence of depression. Mindfulness-based therapy is psychotherapy designed to selectively focus on improving attention and awareness. Typical mindfulness-based therapy programs include mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). MBSR was designed to be an easy-to-use stress reduction program and was reported to be effective in psychiatric and psychosomatic disorders. MBCT combines mindfulness with cognitive therapy, and aims at cognitive change based on mindfulness. In DBT, the patient learns how to deal with their emotions, thereby reducing impulsive behaviors. ACT helps to understand oneself by learning key concepts of acceptance and commitment. MBCT has recently been described as a primary treatment for the prevention of the recurrence of depressive disorder and has been reported to have effects on acute phase treatment. Many studies have shown that mindfulness can induce brain changes in default mode network and emotional regulation regions. In conclusion, mindfulness-based therapies have the potential to become effective therapeutic tools for psychiatric disorders such as depressive disorder.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ; Behavior Therapy ; Brain ; Cognitive Therapy ; Depression ; Depressive Disorder* ; Humans ; Impulsive Behavior ; Learning ; Mindfulness ; Psychophysiologic Disorders ; Psychotherapy ; Recurrence

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to construct an acceptance-commitment therapy (ACT)-based stress management program for inpatients with schizophrenia and to examine its effects on hospitalization stress, self-efficacy, and psychological well-being. METHODS: A non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used. Participants were 44 inpatients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. The experimental group (n=22) received the ACT-based stress management program twice a week for a total of four weeks. The control group (n=22) received the usual care from their primary health care providers. The study was carried out from August 7 to September 1, 2017, and data were analyzed using IBM SPSS/WIN 22.0 with a Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, and an independent t-test. RESULTS: The experimental group showed a significant decrease in hospitalization stress (t=5.09, p < .001) and an increase in self-efficacy (t=2.44, p=.019). However, there was no significant difference in psychological well-being between the two groups (t=0.13, p=.894). CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that the ACT-based stress management program can be used as an effective mental health nursing intervention for hospitalization stress and self-efficacy for inpatients with schizophrenia.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ; Diagnosis ; Hospitalization* ; Humans ; Inpatients* ; Primary Health Care ; Psychiatric Nursing ; Schizophrenia* ; Self Efficacy ; Stress, Psychological

BACKGROUND: Various occupational inpatient rehabilitation programs are established in Norway. This study aimed to assess change in cardiorespiratory fitness, pain, anxiety, depression, and quality of life in persons on long-term sick leave due to musculoskeletal-, mental or unspecific disorders after participation in multicomponent inpatient occupational rehabilitation. METHODS: Twenty-five women and five men (mean age 45.2 years, SD 6.7, range 30–57) volunteered to participate in the study. The participants attended either 8 or 17 full days of occupational multicomponent rehabilitation including physical exercise, cognitive behavioral therapy in the form of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and development of a tailored plan for return to work. Cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed by the Åstrand/Ryhming cycle test at the start and end of rehabilitation program, and at one-year follow-up. Changes in somatic and mental health were measured by questionnaires up to 4 months after start of the program. RESULTS: Linear mixed models showed that the maximal oxygen uptake increased by 1.1 mL°kg-1°min− 1 during the rehabilitation program and by 3.7 mL°kg-1°min− 1 at one-year follow-up. There were minor improvements in somatic and mental health, and quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that occupational inpatient multicomponent rehabilitation including physical exercise and ACT may promote a long-term increase in physical exercise that is sufficient to induce a significant increase in cardiorespiratory fitness. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The current study is not registered, but is part of a larger trial registered at clinicaltrials.gov (No.: NCT01926574, registered 21. Aug 2013).
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ; Anxiety ; Cognitive Therapy ; Depression ; Exercise ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Male ; Mental Disorders ; Mental Health ; Musculoskeletal Diseases ; Norway ; Oxygen ; Quality of Life ; Rehabilitation ; Return to Work ; Sick Leave