The effectiveness of positive psychotherapy and psychodrama on the resilience of breast cancer patients

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Health Psychology, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran.

2 Department of Health Psychology, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran/Clinical Care and Health Promotion Research Center, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran.

3 Associate Professor, Department of Radiotherapy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Cancer patients experience a lot of physical, mental, economic and family pressures, which in most cases cause them to lose resilience and feel despair, and as a result, their mental and physical health deteriorates. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of positive group psychotherapy and group psychodramatic therapy on the resilience of women with breast cancer.
Methodology: This was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test, post-test and follow-up plan with a control group. The research population included all women in the age group of 25 to 45 years old and suffering from breast cancer referring to a clinic in Gandhi Street, Tehran, and 45 of them were selected as a sample by purposive sampling method. These people were replaced in three groups: psychodemonstrating, positive psychotherapy and control group (15 people in each group). The participants answered the resilience scale (Connor and Davidson, 2003) during three stages of assessment in the form of pre-test, post-test and follow-up.
Results: The results of the multivariate repeated measurement analysis of variance test showed that the resilience scores of the positive therapy group and the psychodemonstrating group increased significantly from the pre-test to the post-test and returned with a gentle slope in the follow-up phase.
Conclusion: According to the findings of the research, group positive psychotherapy and psychodrama therapy are both useful treatments for increasing resilience in women with breast cancer, but positive therapy is a more effective treatment in this population.

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