Zemestani, M., & Mozaffar, S. (2020). Acceptance and commitment therapy for the treatment of depression in persons with physical disability: a randomized controlled trial. Clinical Rehabilitation, 34(7): 938–947. DOI: 10.1177/0269215520923135
RETRACTION NOTICE: At the request of Sage and the Journal Editors, the following article has been retracted:
Zemestani M, Mozaffari S. Acceptance and commitment therapy for the treatment of depression in persons with physical disability: a randomized controlled trial. Clinical Rehabilitation. 2020; 34(7): 938–947. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269215520923135
A reader contacted the journal to note concerns about this article's content. This article was included in a meta-analysis1 on the effect of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on depression. PubPeer comments2,3 noted the extreme effect sizes of this study compared to the ten other articles included in the analysis.
While conducting this investigation, further concerns were noted on the discrepancy between the clinical trial registration4 start and end dates compared to the dates stated in the publication. In addition, the documents provided show that ethical approval was sought after the study recruitment had begun.
The authors could not explain the concerns raised nor provide necessary supporting documentation.
Due to the unresolved concerns centering on this study's data and ethical approval, the Journal Editor has retracted this article, and the Editor who handled the paper in 2020 supports this decision.
M.Z disagrees with the retraction. M.S. did not respond when notified of this decision.