The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy on Illness Perception and Adherence to the Treatment of Patients With Multiple Sclerosis

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common disease of the central nervous system. The main cause of this disease is related to the myelin damage of nerve cells. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) on illness perception and adherence to the treatment of patients with MS. Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design with a control group. The statistical population of this study included all patients with MS under the auspices of the MS Society of Tehran (Iran) in 2019. Forty-five women with MS were purposefully selected and randomly divided into MBCT, ACT, and control (n=15) groups. Data were obtained using the revised illness perception questionnaire (IPQ-R) and the MS treatment adherence questionnaire (MS-TAQ). The repeated measurement analysis of variance and SPSS.22 were used to analyze data. Results: The results showed that the effect of MBCT was greater than that of the acceptance and commitment-based therapy group on illness perceptions (P<0.001) and treatment adherence (P<0.001). Conclusion: Overall, the effectiveness of MBCT was greater than that of the ACT group on illness perceptions and adherence to treatment. MBCT and ACT can be employed as effective methods for patients with MS.