Effectiveness Of Spirituality Therapy On The Qualify of Life And Mindfulness Of The Patients With Thalassemia

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Psychology, Kish International Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kish Island, Iran.

2 Clinical Psychology Group, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran. (Corresponding Author)

3 Clinical Psychology Group, Islamic Azad University, Karaj Branch, Karaj, Iran.

Abstract

Introduction: The emergence of chronic physical diseases such as thalassemia causes decrease qualify of life in the patients with thalassemia. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of spirituality therapy on the qualify of life and mindfulness of the patients with thalassemia.
Method: The present study was quasi-experimental with pretest, posttest, and control-group with a two-month follow-up design. The statistical population of the present study included the patients with thalassemia in the city of Shiraz in the fourth quarter of 2018. 30 patients with thalassemia were selected through non-random voluntary and purposive sampling method and randomly replaced into experimental and control groups (15 patients in the experimental and 15 in the control group). The experimental group received ten ninety-minute spirituality therapy intervention sessions during two-and-a-half months. The applied questionnaires in this study were qualify of life questionnaire (The World Health Organization, 1993) and mindfulness questionnaire (Baer, Smith & Allen, 2004). The data from the study were analyzed through ANOVA by mixed design.
Findings: The results showed that spirituality therapy significantly influences psychological distress and resilience in the patients with thalassemia (P˂0.001).  That way this treatment can improve qualify of life and mindfulness in patient With Thalassemia.
Conclusion: The findings of the present study implied that spirituality therapy can be used as an efficient therapy to increase qualify of life and mindfulness of the patients with thalassemia via techniques such as self-awareness and self-communication, altruism, forgiving the self and others, appreciation and gratefulness.

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