The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on cardiac anxiety and psychological resilience in patients with coronary artery disease with a family history of heart disease

Author
mahrokh Ajorloo
10.22034/rph.2026.11654
Abstract
The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on cardiac anxiety and psychological flexibility in patients with coronary artery disease with a family history of heart disease. This study was a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up with a control group. The study population included patients referred to Imam Hussein Hospital from May to June 1404, of whom 30 were selected by convenience sampling and randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups. The experimental group underwent acceptance and commitment therapy for 10 sessions, and the data were analyzed using repeated-measures analysis of variance. The results showed that acceptance and commitment therapy significantly reduced cardiac anxiety and significantly increased psychological flexibility in the experimental group, and these changes were maintained in the follow-up phase. Based on the findings, acceptance and commitment therapy can be used as a complementary intervention in reducing cardiac anxiety and promoting psychological resilience in patients with coronary artery disease and a family history of heart disease.
Keywords
Acceptance and commitment therapy
cardiac anxiety
psychological flexibility
coronary heart disease
family history of heart disease
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