Description
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women, accounting for approximately 30% of all cancer diagnoses. More than 32% of breast cancer patients exhibit symptoms of distress, which can interfere with a patient's ability to cope, reduce the likelihood of adherence to treatment plans, and negatively affect treatment outcome. Despite the high prevalence of psychological distress among breast cancer patients, less than 10% are referred for psychological treatment, and current treatments are only moderately effective at improving psychological well-being. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an established psychological intervention that encourages acceptance strategies and mindfulness techniques to reduce psychological suffering. ACT has been found to decrease psychological distress and improve quality of life for patients with various physical (e.g. chronic pain, ovarian cancer) and psychological (e.g. anxiety, depression) health conditions. However, the efficacy of ACT as a psychological intervention for women with breast cancer has not been tested. A pilot study was conducted to determine whether ACT reduced distress and improved resilience in breast cancer patients, thereby improving quality of life. Twenty-four psychologically distressed women, diagnosed with stage 0-3 breast cancer within the previous year, were randomly assigned to either an ACT or a nutritional education intervention. Patients attended 8 weekly 90-minute sessions and completed self-report measures at baseline, post-intervention, and a 3-month follow-up. It was hypothesized that the ACT intervention would lead to significantly greater changes in psychological distress, resilience, and psychological flexibility from pre- to post-intervention, and quality of life from pre-intervention to the 3-month follow-up assessment than a nutritional education intervention. A series of 2 (Intervention Type) by 2 (Time) mixed-model ANOVAs were conducted to test these hypotheses. The results indicated that the intervention groups did not differ significantly in the outcome variables. However, both groups demonstrated significant improvements in psychological well-being. Although the results of this study do not suggest that ACT is a significantly more effective treatment for breast cancer patients than a nutritional education intervention, future researchers should continue to develop and test modified versions of the ACT protocol
