COMPARATIVE EFFECT OF ACCEPTANCE AND COMMITMENT THERAPY (ACT) AND PSYCHO-EDUCATION ON REHABILITATION OF PATIENTS SUFFERING WITH PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS IN A TEACHING HOSPITAL IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the comparative effect of acceptance and commitment therapy and psycho-education on rehabilitation of patients living with psychoactive drugs in NnamdiAzikiwe University Teaching hospital Nnewi- Anambra State. The  articipants for the study comprised 60 patients (50 males and 10 females) that were diagnosed patients living with psychoactive drugs that were selected from the pool of 71 patients that attend both in patients and out patient’s clinic NAUTH- Nnewi in Anambra State. Their age ranged from 18 to 50 years old with the mean age of 34 and standard deviation of 7.93. The participants met the clinical impression or criteria of substance abuse disorders as diagnosed by the psychiatrist employed by the hospital. The instruments administered on them include acceptance and action questionnaire-1 (AAQ-) and (AAQ-2). The study was an experimental study and pre-test-posttest between subject design. One way ANOVA and independent T-test of related measure were employed as the statistical tool for data analyses. The result showed that patients who received acceptance and commitment therapy and psycho-education show significant lower symptoms than the control group. Therefore, the first and second hypotheses were confirmed. The third hypothesis was also confirmed which showed that patient living with psychoactive drugs who receive acceptance and commitment therapy show significant lower symptoms when compared with those who received psycho-education and the fourth hypothesis was confirmed which showed that acceptance and commitment therapy when compared with psycho-education therapy will reduce symptoms of those patients living with psychoactive drugs. In line with these findings, it implies that ACT is more effective than psycho-education in the treatment of patients living with psychoactive drugs. Therefore, this study recommends that ACT should be employed by the Clinical Psychologists or Psychotherapists in the treatment of patients living with psychoactive drugs. Suggestions for further studies were also made.