The effectiveness of an acceptance and commitment therapy self-help intervention for chronic pain

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of an Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) based self-help book for people with chronic pain. Method: This was a randomised two group study design. Over a 6-week period, 6 participants read the self-help book and completed exercises from it with weekly telephone support while 8 others formed a wait-list control group. Subsequently, five of the wait-list participants completed the intervention. Participants completed pre- and post-intervention questionnaires for acceptance, values illness, quality of life, satisfaction with life, depression, anxiety and pain. Initial outcome data were collected for 8 control participants and 6 intervention participants. Including the wait-list controls, a total of 11 participants completed pre- and post-intervention measures. Whilst completing the self-help intervention, each week participants ’ rated the content of the book according to reading level and usefulness, and their comprehension of the content was also assessed. Results: Compared to controls, participants who completed the book showed improved quality of life and decreased anxiety. When data from all the treatment participants wa