The effectiveness of emotion-focused therapy on psychological distress and fear of disease progression in people with cancer.

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Psychology , WT.C. , Islamic Azad University , Tehran , Iran. (Corresponding author)

2 Department of Psychology , WT.C. , Islamic Azad University , Tehran , Iran.

10.22038/mjms.2025.27832

Abstract

Introduction: The present study was conducted with the aim of determining the effect of emotion-focused therapy on psychological distress and fear of disease progression in people with cancer.
Methods: The study was a quasi-experimental study with a two-group pre-test-post-test design and the statistical population included all people with cancer over 25 years of age in Tehran in 1404. In order to select the sample and considering sample dropout, 30 people with cancer referring to chemotherapy centers were selected using the convenience sampling method, and in the next stage, this number was divided into two groups of 15 people and randomly assigned to one as the experimental group and the other as the control group. The experimental group received emotion-focused therapy for 8 sessions of 90 minutes, while the control group followed their usual program. After the end of the retest period, the two groups were post-tested. After data collection, 3 people from the experimental group were excluded from the study due to missing more than two sessions and 2 people from the control group due to not participating in the post-test, and information related to 12 people from the experimental group and 13 people from the control group was analyzed. The tools used in the study were: Kessler et al.'s Psychological Distress Questionnaire (2002) and Hershbach's Fear of Disease Progression Questionnaire (2010). Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOA) was used to analyze the data.
Results: The results showed that emotion-focused therapy significantly reduced the level of psychological distress and fear of disease progression in the experimental group compared to the control group.
Conclusion: Based on these results, it can be concluded that emotion-focused therapy can be used to improve the mental state of cancer patients, especially in dealing with complex emotions experienced during the disease process.

Keywords

Medical Journal of Mashhad university of Medical Sciences
Volume 68, Issue 6
January and February 2026
Pages 1855-1865

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