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This study compared the effects of adding acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) or exposure and response prevention (ERP) to adults diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) already on an optimal and stable dose of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Forty adults on SSRIs who were diagnosed with OCD participated in a randomized controlled trial in Iran of 12 individual weekly sessions of either ACT+SSRI, ERP+SSRI, or continued SSRI only. The results showed significant reductions in OCD symptom severity in ACT+SSRI and ERP+SSRI conditions at posttreatment with significantly greater reductions in both conditions compared to SSRI-only at follow-up. Additionally, psychological inflexibility and use of thought control strategies significantly decreased in the ACT+SSRI condition at posttreatment and follow-up compared to the ERP+SSRI and SSRI conditions. Both conditions led to decreases in perceived importance of stop signals. Results provide cross-cultural support for the treatment of OCD using ACT and ERP as adjuncts to SSRI and modest process of change differences between ACT and ERP. Future directions and study limitations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nursing in psychiatric wards is considered a highly stressful career due to the type of patients and the problem of communicating with them. Finding appropriate solutions to overcome this stress can improve the general health of nurses and improve their quality of work. The aim was to investigate the impact of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on the perceived stress (PS) and psychological flexibility (PF) of nurses in psychiatric wards. Methods: A total of 70 nurses of Razi Psychiatric Center of Tehran were randomly selected and divided into two experimental and control groups of 35. In addition to routine interventions, the experimental group was provided with eight 2-h sessions of ACT training, whereas the control group only received routine interventions. Prior to the intervention sessions and a month after the last session, demographic information, PS scale, and Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (2nd Edition) were completed in both groups. Results: There was a significant difference regarding the PS level (P = 0.002) and PF (P = 0.001) in the control and experimental groups; the experimental group showed lower PS and higher PF. Conclusions: ACT can lead to reduced PS and improved PF, which can be considered as a solution to empower nurses working in psychiatric wards. Trial registration: This was registered in Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT) (clinical trial code: IRCT20180506039557N1. Registered 2018-10-31. Retrospectively registered, https://en.irct.ir/trial/31040 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global COVID‐19 outbreak has put the human race's distress tolerance abilities to the test. And, the distress experienced getting worse with each pandemic wave; however, the more flexible the person, the greater the chance of surviving. Thus, the current study aimed to examine the mediating role of personalized psychological flexibility (PPF) in the link between distress intolerance to psychological distress during the fourth wave of the pandemic in Iran. A total of 576 individuals (Meanage 34.80, ±10.9, females 55.6%) took part in the online survey. In this national sample, PPF partially played a role in mediating the association mentioned above. Interestingly, this mediation was independent of demographic factors (age, gender, marital status, and educational level) and fear of COVID‐19, mindfulness, and satisfaction with life. So, despite the mentioned variables, accepting and using unpleasant emotions as fuel to achieve valued goals rather than avoiding them would mitigate the psychological distress during the pandemic. Consequently, public health services can aim to provide psychological flexibility enhancing interventions to decay COVID‐19‐related mental distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance-based treatment on psychological flexibility of mothers of children with autism disorder. Materials and Methods: This study was a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest with control group. The statistical population of the present study included mothers with autistic children referring to the autism community in Qom city at 2017. According to the semi-experimental design and Criteria for research, a sample of 30 patients (each group of 15) was selected voluntarily. Samples were randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups. The experimental group received 8 sessions of "acceptance and commitment therapy. The instrument for collecting information included the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II). Data were analyzed by SPSS software using covariance. Ethical Considerations: This study with research ethics code IR.IAU.ARAK.REC.1396.39 has been approved by research ethics committee at Islamic Azad University of Arak, Iran. Findings: Based on study findings, the acceptance- and commitment-based therapy had significant impact on psychological flexibility in mothers of children with autism. Conclusion: Based on the findings, it can be concluded that acceptance and commitment therapy is effective in improving the mental health of mothers with childhood autism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Substance abuse is a socio-psychological disorder. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy with 12-steps Narcotics Anonymous on psychological well-being of opiate dependent individuals in addiction treatment centers in Shiraz, Iran. Method: This was a randomized controlled trial. Data were collected at entry into the study and at post-test and follow-up visits. The participants were selected from opiate addicted individuals who referred to addiction treatment centers in Shiraz. Sixty individuals were evaluated according to inclusion/ exclusion criteria and were divided into three equal groups randomly (20 participants per group). One group received acceptance and commitment group therapy (Twelve 90-minute sessions) and the other group was provided with the 12-steps Narcotics Anonymous program and the control group received the usual methadone maintenance treatment. During the treatment process, seven participants dropped out. Data were collected using the psychological well-being questionnaire and AAQ questionnaire in the three groups at pre-test, post-test and follow-up visits. Data were analyzed using repeated measure analysis of variance. Results: Repeated measure analysis of variance revealed that the mean difference between the three groups was significant (P<0.05) and that acceptance and commitment therapy group showed improvement relative to the NA and control groups on psychological well-being and psychological flexibility. Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that acceptance and commitment therapy can be helpful in enhancing positive emotions and increasing psychological well-being of addicts who seek treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is a growing body of research suggesting that psychological flexibility (PF) is an important psychological construct related to psychological health and human performance. The Psychological Flexibility in Sport Scale (PFSS) is the first general scale to assess sport-related PF. So far, the PFSS has not yet been validated in other contexts than Sweden. Therefore, the current study sought to investigate a Persian version of the PFSS (P-PFSS) and extend the investigation of the psychometric properties of the PFSS in Iranian athletes., Methods: A total of 302 athletes from both team and individual sports (average age of 20.7 years, SD ± 7.5, 62.3% were female) were involved in the current study. Statistical analysis was performed on the data to test validity and reliability. The validity of the P-PFSS was tested through face and content validity, construct validity, criterion validity, and known-groups validity. The reliability of P-PFSS was verified through internal consistency and temporal stability of the scale., Results: Results revealed that validity of the P-PFSS was satisfactory. The instrument was determined to have strong face and content validity. With modifications, the confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the scale's unidimensionality. The convergent validity of the P-PFSS was found to be acceptable (average variance extracted = 0.66) and satisfactory results were also found in the correlation matrix for the assessment of construct validity. The P-PFSS showed good criterion validity related to generic psychological flexibility and athletic-related variables. Also, the P-PFSS was able to differentiate PF between known groups. The P-PFSS was found to be reliable, with good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.92; composite reliability = 0.92) and temporal stability on retest (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.95)., Conclusions: Overall, the Persian version of the PFSS showed good psychometric qualities in Iranian athletes. The current study provides additional support for the PFSS and extends the context-specific utility for practitioners and researchers in assessing sport-related PF., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

The present study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of a Persian version of the Psychological Flexibility Epilepsy Questionnaire (P-PFEQ). Transcultural adaptation and validation of the Persian version of the PFEQ were performed using translation and back-translation with pilot testing (on 17 patients) and expert evaluation. Participants in the current study involved 100 patients with an EEG-verified epilepsy diagnosis and an average age of 30.96 years (SD ± 6.46) (63% were female). Data collection included a sociodemographic questionnaire, epilepsy-specific questionnaire, the Depression-Anxiety-stress scale (DASS-21), the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), the 31-item Quality-of-Life questionnaire in Epilepsy (QOLIE-31), the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ), the Committed Action Questionnaire (CAQ), and the short form of the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI). Descriptive and inferential analyses were conducted by SPSS software V.26. The P-PFEQ demonstrated semantic, conceptual, and content validity in equivalence with the Swedish version. Based on Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), five items were eliminated and unidimensional scale of PFEQ with 12 items, explaining 50.38% of the total variance, was accepted. The scale showed good reliability through internal consistency (Cronbach's α of 0.9) and temporal stability on retest (n = 85, Intraclass correlation = 0.92). Convergent and divergent validity findings were acceptable for the P-PFEQ. The findings show that the P-PFEQ is a reliable and valid scale for assessing psychological flexibility in the Iranian patients with epilepsy. Also, it can be confidently recommended as a useful instrument in clinical practice., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. Many of these patients suffer from multiple psychological symptoms. The present study aimed to investigate the impact of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on depression, pain acceptance, and psychological flexibility in married women with breast cancer., Methods: The present study was a pre- and post-test clinical trial with intervention and control groups. The research population consisted of women with breast cancer referred to the Ayatollah Yasrebi and Shahid Beheshti Hospitals in Kashan in 2018. Through a purposive sampling method, 40 women were selected and randomly divided into two groups, namely, intervention (n = 20) and control (n = 20). The applied tools included the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire 8 (CPAQ-8), and Acceptance and Action Questionnaire - II (AAQ-II). Data were analyzed by SPSS 16 using descriptive statistics and analysis of variance (ANOVA)., Results: The results showed that ACT treatment significantly reduced the mean scores of depression compared to the control group (F = 107.72, p < 0.001). The mean scores of pain acceptance (F = 9.58, p < 0.05) and psychological flexibility (F = 10.61, p < 0 .05) significantly increased in comparison with the control group., Conclusion: ACT can be considered as an effective therapeutic approach to reduce depression and increase pain acceptance and psychological flexibility in women with breast cancer. These changes appear to be due to improved acceptance of thoughts and feelings associated with cancer and increased psychological flexibility, which is the primary goal of ACT treatment., Clinical Trial Registration: Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT), IRCT20190518043620N1., Competing Interests: No conflicts of interest declared concerning the publication of this article.