The Effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy With and Without Compassion on Spiritual Fatalism and Depression in Diabetic Patients

Background and Objectives: There exists a relationship between spirituality and depression. Moreover, psychological interventions are effective in this regard. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with and without compassion on spiritual fatalism and depression in non-clinically depressed diabetic patients. Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test, post-test and follow-up and a control group design. The statistical population included all non-clinical depressed patients with type 2 diabetes in the welfare centers of Mashhad City, Iran, in 2020. To form 3 research groups using the purposive sampling method, 33 subjects were selected and randomly divided into the study groups. Moreover, after 2 months, a follow-up test was performed on the research groups. The research instruments included the Patient Health Questionnaire (Depression) by Arbi et al. and the Diagnosis Scale of Egede and Ellis Diabetes. Results: The repeated measures analysis of variance data suggested that the ACT approaches with and without compassion intervention were effective in increasing spiritual fatalism (P<0.05) and reducing depression (P<0.05) in the explored nonclinical depressed diabetic patients. Moreover, the follow-up data revealed the stability of the collected results (P<0.05). Conclusion:ACT, as an effective intervention can be used in medical centers to increase spiritual fatalism and reduce depression in diabetic patients with depression vulnerability.