The Effectiveness of Spiritual Coping Skills Training on Health Anxiety and Negative Affect in Women with Hypertension

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD student in Psychology, Department of Psychology, Torbat Jam Branch, Islamic Azad University, Torbat Jam, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Torbat Jam Branch, Islamic Azad University, Torbat Jam, Iran.

3 Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Torbat Jam Branch, Islamic Azad University, Torbat Jam, Iran.

10.22038/mjms.2025.87386.4982

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of spiritual coping skills training on health anxiety and negative affect in women with hypertension. The current study was a semi-experimental application with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group and a two-month follow-up period. The statistical population of the study was women with hypertension who referred to Eqbal Hospital in Tehran in the summer of 2024. In this research, 35 with hypertension were selected by Voluntary sampling method and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups (18 woman in the experimental group and 17 woman in the control group). The women in the experimental group received the spiritual coping skills training during eight weeks in eight 90-minute sessions. Health Anxiety Questionnaire (HAQ) and Positive and Negative Affect Questionnaire (PNAQ) were used in the present study. The data were analyzed through mixed ANOVA via SPSS23 software. The results showed that spiritual coping skills training has significant effect on the health anxiety (p<0.0001) and negative affect (p<0.0001) in women with hypertension. Based on the research findings, it can be concluded that spiritual coping skills training with an emphasis on heartfelt faith in God, teaching the problem-solving process and planning based on problem-oriented coping skills can be used as an effective method to reduce health anxiety and negative emotions in women with hypertension.

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References

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Medical Journal of Mashhad university of Medical Sciences
Volume 69, Issue 5
June 2026
Pages 553-564

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