ACT (pronounced as one word) is a type of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy that promotes a therapeutic process known as “Psychological Flexibility”. A key feature of this therapy in the context of chronic pain is that it focuses on behaviour change rather than symptom reduction only. This was a prospective study, which aimed to design, implement and evaluate ACT based, group, interdisciplinary, rehabilitation programmes for people with chronic pain attending rheumatology services. Data was collected at three time points; at assessment, on the last day of the interventions and at a 6-month review date following completion of the programme. Four self-report measures and two objective measures were used to collect data for the primary outcomes. To examine the processes of psychological flexibility, a further four validated measures were included at each time point and these mapped onto the content of the programme. Paired t-tests and repeated measures ANOVA were used to test differences between time points. Results showed statistically significant improvements across all the primary outcome measures except for pain. Improvements made during the eight-week programmes were maintained at follow up for all the measures. These are the first trials, examining ACT for chronic pain that were carried out in a rheumatology context only. As such they add to the existing evidence for the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for chronic pain.

OUTCOMES AND PROCESSES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL FLEXIBILITY DURING ACCEPTANCE AND COMMITMENT THERAPY (ACT), GROUP BASED TREATMENT FOR PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC PAIN IN A RHEUMATOLOGY CONTEXT