Examining the Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on the Cognitive Functions of Patients with Systemic...

Objective: This study was administrated with the goal of examining the efficacy of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on cognitive functions of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Method : In a single-blind experimental research, 90 adult patients with lupus were randomly divided into the three ACT (n = 30), general health education (GHE) (n = 30) and waitlist (n = 30) groups. Both treatment groups received individual treatment with a specific protocol for four weeks. Before and after treatment, all participants were assessed using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and the Stroop Color Word Test (SCWT). Results: Both ACT and GHE groups had a significantly better post-intervention cognitive performance compared to the waitlist group in terms of WCST and SCWT scores (P < 0.05). Cohen's d for the effects of ACT on WCST total errors and completed categories were 0.86 and 0.80, respectively. Cohen's d for the effect of ACT on SCWT was 0.70. Furthermore, Cohen's d for the effects of GHE on WCST total errors and completed categories were 0.65 and 0.58, respectively. Also, Cohen's d for the effect of GHE on SCWT was 0.55. The ACT and GHE interventions differed significantly only in total errors on WCST, with the ACT group demonstrating significantly better cognitive functioning at post-intervention (P = 0.04). Conclusion: The ACT approach has a large effect on the cognitive performance of lupus patients, while the GHE has a moderate effect on these functions. Therefore, these intervention methods, especially ACT, could be considered alongside usual treatment methods as suitable options to improve the daily affairs of people with lupus.