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Department of Psychology, To.C., Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran. , sh.abolghasemi@iau.ac.ir
Abstract: (10 Views)
Background: Schizophrenia, as a chronic and disabling disorder, profoundly affects not only the life of the patient but also the entire family system. Parents of individuals with schizophrenia often experience a heavy caregiving burden, ongoing stress, and considerable emotional challenges, all of which may negatively influence their subjective well-being and overall quality of life. Given these conditions, identifying and implementing effective psychological interventions aimed at enhancing the mental health of these parents is of particular importance.
Aims: The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and cognitive‑behavioral therapy (CBT) on the subjective well-being of parents of patients with schizophrenia.
Methods: This study employed a pretest–posttest design with a three‑month follow‑up and a control group. The statistical population consisted of all parents of patients with schizophrenia residing in Tehran in 2025 who had an active file with the Welfare Organization. From this population, 60 caregiving parents (33 women and 27 men) were selected through purposive sampling and randomly assigned to three groups of 20 participants: ACT, CBT, and control. Assessments were conducted at three stages: pretest, posttest, and follow‑up. The research instrument included the Cognitive Subjective Well‑Being Questionnaire (Keyes & Magyar-Moe, 2003). The ACT group (Hayes, 2004) and the CBT group (Beck et al., 1991) each received nine intervention sessions, whereas the control group remained on a waiting list and received no therapeutic intervention. Data were analyzed using repeated‑measures ANOVA in SPSS version 26, with the significance level set at 0.05.
Results: The findings indicated that both therapeutic approaches—ACT and CBT—led to a significant improvement in subjective well‑being compared to the control group (P < 0.05). However, Bonferroni post hoc comparisons revealed that ACT demonstrated greater effectiveness than CBT in enhancing subjective well‑being and maintaining these improvements at the follow‑up stage (P < 0.01).
Conclusion: Based on the results, ACT produced greater improvement in subjective well‑being than CBT and successfully maintained these gains over the follow‑up period. These findings suggest that acceptance‑ and commitment‑based interventions may serve as a more effective option in psychological support programs for parents of individuals with schizophrenia.
Aims: The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and cognitive‑behavioral therapy (CBT) on the subjective well-being of parents of patients with schizophrenia.
Methods: This study employed a pretest–posttest design with a three‑month follow‑up and a control group. The statistical population consisted of all parents of patients with schizophrenia residing in Tehran in 2025 who had an active file with the Welfare Organization. From this population, 60 caregiving parents (33 women and 27 men) were selected through purposive sampling and randomly assigned to three groups of 20 participants: ACT, CBT, and control. Assessments were conducted at three stages: pretest, posttest, and follow‑up. The research instrument included the Cognitive Subjective Well‑Being Questionnaire (Keyes & Magyar-Moe, 2003). The ACT group (Hayes, 2004) and the CBT group (Beck et al., 1991) each received nine intervention sessions, whereas the control group remained on a waiting list and received no therapeutic intervention. Data were analyzed using repeated‑measures ANOVA in SPSS version 26, with the significance level set at 0.05.
Results: The findings indicated that both therapeutic approaches—ACT and CBT—led to a significant improvement in subjective well‑being compared to the control group (P < 0.05). However, Bonferroni post hoc comparisons revealed that ACT demonstrated greater effectiveness than CBT in enhancing subjective well‑being and maintaining these improvements at the follow‑up stage (P < 0.01).
Conclusion: Based on the results, ACT produced greater improvement in subjective well‑being than CBT and successfully maintained these gains over the follow‑up period. These findings suggest that acceptance‑ and commitment‑based interventions may serve as a more effective option in psychological support programs for parents of individuals with schizophrenia.
Article number: 17
Keywords: acceptance and commitment therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, subjective well-being, parents of patients with schizophrenia.
Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Special
Received: 2026/04/14 | Accepted: 2026/10/2 | Published: 2026/10/23
Received: 2026/04/14 | Accepted: 2026/10/2 | Published: 2026/10/23
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This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License. |
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)