The effectiveness of compassion therapy on body image, post-traumatic growth and death anxiety in breast cancer patients

Aghdam, Leyla; Rezaei Jamalouei, Hasan; Taheri, Mehdi

doi:10.22038/mjms.2022.23032

The effectiveness of compassion therapy on body image, post-traumatic growth and death anxiety in breast cancer patients

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Leyla Aghdam ¹

Hasan Rezaei Jamalouei ²

Mehdi Taheri ³

¹ PhD Student in Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran.

² Department of Psychology, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran.

³ Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, Sadjad University, Mashhad, Iran.

10.22038/mjms.2022.23032

Abstract

Introduction: The impact of cancer patients on various biological, psychological and social aspects of the disease requires the need for psychological interventions. This research was conducted with the aim of determining the effectiveness of compassion therapy on body image, post-traumatic growth and death anxiety of breast cancer patients.
Method: In the form of a semi-experimental design, pre-test, post-test and follow-up test with a control group, 30 people were randomly selected from the patients with breast cancer in district 1 of Tehran by available sampling method and randomly divided into test and control groups. They were replaced. The required findings were collected by using body image, post-traumatic growth and death anxiety questionnaires in three pre-tests, post-test and follow-up tests, and by using variance analysis with repeated measurements. and Bonferroni's post hoc test was analyzed.
Results: Descriptive findings and analysis of variance with repeated measurements showed that compassion therapy intervention is effective in improving body image, post-traumatic growth and death anxiety of breast cancer patients (p<0.001) and Bonferroni post hoc test. also showed that this effect is permanent due to the passage of time.
Conclusion: Compassion therapy intervention can be used to increase body image and growth after the accident and reduce death anxiety in breast cancer patients.

Keywords

breast cancer

compassion therapy

body image

post-traumatic growth

death anxiety