Background and aims: Cancer patients often experience severe pain due to both the disease and its treatment. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in reducing pain catastrophizing and pain anxiety while enhancing resilience among cancer patients.
Methods: This study employed a quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test assessments, including a control group. The statistical population consisted of cancer patients referred to the pathology department of Imam Khomeini Hospital in Behshahr city, during 2023. Totally, 40 participants were selected based on the study's inclusion and exclusion criteria (20 for each group). Data were collected using three validated questionnaires incuding Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) by Sullivan, Bishop, and Pivik (1995), Pain Anxiety Symptoms Scale (PASS) by McCracken and Dhingra (2002), Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) by Conner and Davidson (2003). Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).
Results: The findings revealed significant improvements in the experimental group including pain catastrophizing (decreased from 52.6 ± 4.8 to 32.3 ± 3.5), pain anxiety (decreased from 35.7 ± 4.2 to 21.0 ± 3.9), and resilience (increased from 54.4 ± 16.2 to 60.3 ± 18.1). All changes were statistically significant (p< 0.001) whereas no significant differences were observed in the control group. The effect sizes were 0.58, 0.53, and 0.64 for pain catastrophizing, pain anxiety, and resilience, respectively.
Conclusion: The results demonstrate that ACT is effective in reducing pain catastrophizing and pain anxiety while improving resilience in cancer patients. Therefore, ACT is recommended as a therapeutic intervention to alleviate these psychological challenges in this population.