en تخصصي Special پژوهشي Research Article <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-family:Tahoma;"><span style="unicode-bidi:embed"><b><span style="color:black">Background and Objective:</span></b> Education regarding illness in individuals with chronic diseases is a critical factor in fostering empowerment and enhancing patients&#39; understanding of their conditions. Therefore, this study was designed to compare the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Reality Therapy (RT) in improving illness perception among women with multiple sclerosis (MS).</span><br> <span style="unicode-bidi:embed"><b><span style="color:black">Materials and Methods:</span></b> This quasi-experimental research was conducted using a pretest-posttest design and a 2-month follow-up with a control group. The research population included all married women with MS in Hamedan in 2023. Of these, 3 groups of 15 people were selected using the convenience sampling method and randomly divided into experimental and control groups and responded to Broadbent et al.&#39;s Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire in three stages of pre-test, post-test, and follow-up. The subjects in the experimental group were treated with the ACT and RT approaches for a total of eight sessions, with each session lasting 60 minutes and held weekly as a group. In contrast, the control group did not receive any educational intervention. The data were statistically analyzed in SPSS software using a covariance test and a significant level of p<0.05<span dir="RTL" lang="FA">.</span><span style="font-family:Optima"></span></span><br> <span style="unicode-bidi:embed"><b><span style="color:black">Results:</span></b> The results showed that there was no significant difference between the mean scores of pre-test, post-test, and follow-up illness perception in the three groups. Regarding the between-group factor, the calculated F value was not significant at a level smaller than 0.05 (Eta=0.048, P<0.05, F=1.052). As a result, there was no significant difference between the overall mean illness perception in the three experimental and control groups<span dir="RTL" lang="FA">.</span><span style="font-family:Optima"></span></span><br> <b><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="color:black">Conclusion:</span></span></b> <span style="line-height:115%">According to the results of this study, it can be said that ACT and RT lead to improved disease perception in women with MS; however, the effect of RT was greater than that of ACT.</span></span></span></div> Acceptance and Commitment, Multiple Sclerosis, Perception of Illness, Reality Therapy 117 125 http://ajnpp.umsha.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-979-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Maryam Bagheri drmaryambagheri1362@gmail.com 10031947532846007971 10031947532846007971 No Department of Health Psychology, Rudehen Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rudehen, Iran Farah Lotfi Kashani lotfikasani@riau.ac.ir 10031947532846007972 10031947532846007972 Yes Department of Clinical Psychology, Tehran Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Mohammad Ismail Ebrahimi mse58_2007@yahoo.com 10031947532846007973 10031947532846007973 No Department of Psychology, Hamedan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Hamedan, Iran