The Role of Acceptance and Commitment-based Group Therapy on Pain Tolerance and State-trait Anxiety in Gastrointestinal Cancer Patients

Abstract

: The main purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of acceptance and commitment group therapy on pain tolerance and state-trait anxiety in patients with gastrointestinal cancer. This quasi-experimental study was performed with pretest, posttest and control group. There were 24 participants in the study, 12 of them in the control group and other 12 in the experimental group. The experimental group received eight sessions of acceptance and commitment based therapy and the control group received no psychotherapy. The instruments used in this study were short-form McGill Pain questionnaire-2 and state-trait anxiety questionnaire. Results showed an increase in pain tolerance and decrease in anxiety in patients in the experimental group.