Comparing the Effectiveness of Group Therapy of Cognitive-Behavioral, Acceptance and Commitment and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in the Treatment of Fibromyalgia Syndrome

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: Fibromyalgia syndrome is a complex and chronic diseases that negatively affects health and quality of life. Therefore, the aim of this study was comparing the effectiveness of group therapy of cognitive-behavioral, acceptance and commitment and mindfulness-based stress reduction in the treatment of fibromyalgia syndrome.

Methodology: This research was a quasi-experimental with a pre-test, post-test, and three-month follow-up design with three experimental groups and one control group. The research population was women with fibromyalgia syndrome who referred to rheumatology specialists of Shiraz city in the second half of 2024 year. The sample of this study was 84 people who were selected by purposive sampling method and randomly assigned into four equal groups. Each of the three experimental groups received 8 sessions of 90 minute by group therapy of cognitive-behavioral, acceptance and commitment and mindfulness-based stress reduction, respectively, and the control group remained on the waiting list for training. To collect data was used the Revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (Bennett et al., 2009) and were analyzed the methods of analysis of variance with repeated measures and Bonferroni post hoc test in SPSS-26 software.

Findings: The results of this study showed that the two methods of group therapy of cognitive-behavioral and acceptance and commitment in compared to the control group reduced fibromyalgia syndrome and the results remained in the follow-up phase (P<0.05), but there was no significant difference between the two mentioned intervention methods (P>0.05). Also, the mindfulness-based stress reduction group therapy method in compared to the control group did not cause a significant change in reducing fibromyalgia syndrome (P<0.05).

Conclusion: According to the results of this study, therapists and psychologists can use two methods of group therapy of cognitive-behavioral and acceptance and commitment to reduce fibromyalgia syndrome.