Effectiveness of Compassion-Based Acceptance Therapy and Schema Therapy on Intimate Partner Violence Victims’ Psychological Health

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of group Compassion-Based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and group Schema Therapy on depression, stress, psychological well-being, and resiliency in female intimate partner violence (IPV) victims in Iran. For this purpose, a sample of 60 women who reported ongoing experiences of IPV were selected. Out of these 60 women, 20 were randomly assigned to the ACT treatment group, 20 to the Schema Therapy group, and 20 to the no-treatment control group. Five participants withdrew from each group. For both the ACT and Schema groups, depression and stress decreased, and overall well-being and resiliency scores significantly increased between pre-test and post-test, and there was not a significant difference in depression levels between post-test and the follow-up for either group. For the control group, depression and resiliency scores did not significantly change between pre-test and post-test or between the post-test and follow-up. Stress scores significantly decreased between pre-test and post-test, but stress scores significantly increased between the post-test and the follow-up. Well-being scores significantly increased between pre-test and post-test and did not significantly change between post-test and follow-up. One-way analyses of variance examining change scores of depression, stress, overall well-being, and resiliency between the pre-test and the follow-up found that the ACT and Schema group’s depression and stress levels lowered, and resiliency levels increased significantly more than the control group. There was no significant difference in depression and resiliency change score for the ACT and Schema group. The ACT group’s overall well-being increased significantly more than the control group.