Objective: This study investigated the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on self-efficacy in coping with cancer in leukemia patients.
Materials and Methods: The research was a quasi-experimental study following a pretest-posttest-follow-up design with a control group. For this purpose, 30 leukemia outpatients in the Chemotherapy Clinic of Karaj Shahid Rajaei Hospital in 2024 were selected by convenience sampling and randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups, each with 15 patients. The subjects completed Heitzmann et al.’s. Cancer Behavior Inventory (CBI) before and after the intervention. The intervention included 8 90-minute ACT sessions and targeted only the experimental group. The data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) and repeated measures analysis of variance (ANCOVA) run in the SPSS 26 software.
Results: The findings revealed significant differences in the scores of CBI and its subscales, i.e., maintaining activity and independence, coping with treatment-related side effects, accepting cancer, seeking and understanding medical information, regulating affect, seeking support, and stress management between the experimental and control groups. The treatment effect also continued until the follow-up phase (P<0.05).
Conclusion: The findings help us conclude that ACT improves self-efficacy in coping with cancer in leukemia patients and can be employed as an efficient intervention.