ARTICLE INFO

Article Type

Original Research

Authors

Yazarloo   M. (*)
Kalantari   M. (1)
Mehrabi   H. (1)






(*) Department of Psychology, Education Science & Psychology Faculty, Isfahan University, Isfahan, Iran
(1) Department of Psychology, Education Science & Psychology Faculty, Isfahan University, Isfahan, Iran

Correspondence

Address: Education Science & Psychology Faculty, Isfahan University, Azadi Square, Isfahan, Iran. Postal Code: 8174673441
Phone: +98 (17) 35723963
Fax: +98 (17) 35728369
yazarloo.17@gmail.com

Article History

Received:  September  1, 2016
Accepted:  September 13, 2017
ePublished:  June 3, 2018

BRIEF TEXT


… [1,3]. Mental health improves and grows the personality of human helping him be compatible with oneself and others [4]. … [5-12].

… [13]. Sharp in his review study concludes that acceptance and commitment therapy is appropriate for the conceptualization and treatment of anxiety disorders [14]. The results of study with the aim of investigating the effectiveness of ACT on the individuals in the long term depression leave showe that a significant recovery is created in depression, general health, and quality life of the subjects [15].

Since the police protect the independence, security, and territorial integrity of the country, the authority of the country will not be possible without the empowerment of the police. Thus, considering the factors affecting their optimal performance, including the mental health, is very essential. The present study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment group therapy on the mental health of the police personnel.

This research is a semi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design and control group.

This stude was conducted among all police personnel of Golestan province, Iran, in 2015-16.

Since the number of research sample in experimental and semi-experimental studies must be at least 15 subjects, thus 60 subjects were selected by using the targeted sampling method to increase the test validity by considering the probability of loss. The samples were divided into two groups of control and experimental each one containing 30 subjects.

The mental disorder symptoms inventory was used for data collection. The validity of this inventory was reported as 0.98 by using the Cronbach’s alpha and 0.82 by using the Pearson correlation method [16, 17]. After finalizing the objectives and office coordination, the researchers referred to the police stations of Golestan Province, Iran, and interviewed with all individuals who tended and enrolled for participation in the study. The inventory of mental health was distributed among the qualified subjects in the study. Then, based on the research objectives, those with the lowest score in mental health having the inclusion criteria were divided into two groups and the pre-test step was implemented for all participants. In the next step, an intervention was implemented in eight sessions of 90 minutes (Table 1). After implementing the medical interventions, the dimensions of mental health in two groups of experimental and control were studied in two levels of pretest and follow up. The participants were ensured that the information related to the inventory will be kept confidential and will not be provided to anyone. The multivariate analysis of covariance with SPSS 22 software was used for data analysis. The pre-assumptions of normality and homogeneity of variances were studied and confirmed before performing the multivariate analysis of covariance by using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Levene’s test (except the sub-scales of psychosis at the follow up step).

The statistical mean age of participants was 27.93±4.16 in the experimental group and 26.66±3.28 in the control group. The pre-test score of the experimental group had a significant difference than the post test (p<0.05). Receiving the intervention of acceptance and commitment therapy had 12.8% effect on the post test scores of physical complaint, 24.6% on obsession, 9.1% on interpersonal sensitivity, 8.2% on depression, 11.8% on phobia, and 10.2% on psychosis (p<0.001). In subscales of anxiety, aggression, and pessimistic thoughts, the difference between the means was not significant (Table 2). In both experimental and control groups, there was no significant difference between the scores of pretest steps and follow up (p<0.05). intervention therapy had 9.9% effect on physical complaint, 25.2% on obsession, 7.2% on interpersonal sensitivity, 12.4% on depression, and 10.6% on phobia (p<0.001) by controlling the relationship between the subscales of anxiety, aggression, pessimistic thoughts, and Psychosis (Table 2).

The results showed that the acceptance and commitment therapy improved the mental health of the police personnel. These findings were in line with the studies of Kaviyani [18], Kanter et al. [19], Grij et al. [20], and Khanjani and Masjedi [21]. Acceptance and commitment help the regulation of positive behaviors related to mental health [22]. Acceptance and commitment in combination to vitality and observing the experiences clearly and their acceptance can create positive changes in line with compatibility and mental health [23]. … [24-26].

It is suggested to compare the other therapies to this therapy in the future studies.

One of the limitations of this study was the lack of comparing to other therapies and lack of specialized acceptance and commitment therapy for military jobs to their special job conditions.

The acceptance and commitment therapy improves the mental health of the police personnel in dimensions of physical complaint, obsession, sensitivity in relationships, and phobia.

The authors of this study would like to appreciate all police personnel and the Applied Research Center of Golestan, Iran, for their valuable cooperation in this study.

No case was reported.

No case was reported.

No case was reported.

TABLES and CHARTS

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