Effect of a Psychological Intervention on Stigma: a Randomized Controlled Study

Using purposive sampling method, 84 college students with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) accompanied by a sense of shame who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria from June 2023 to January 2024 in a comprehensive university in Yangzhou City were selected for the study. Using the method of random grouping, the patients who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were numbered and randomly divided into the control group and the intervention group by computer random number procedure. Because individual patients fell out during the study, the final sample size for inclusion in the study was 80 cases, with 40 cases in each group. The control group was given conventional health education on irritable bowel syndrome, and the intervention group was given a 6-week acceptance and commitment therapy-based intervention programme for college students with irritable bowel syndrome based on stigma, with a 6-week intervention period and a 3-month follow-up period. The ANOVA of repeated measures data was used to analyse the trends in the Stigma, Psychological flexibility (PF), Self-acceptance (SA) and Quality of Life (QOL) score trends over time to assess the effects of the intervention. A single-blind method was used in this study, and only the outcomes assessor was blinded.