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The effect of a group cognitive behavioral therapy on the quality of life and emotional disturbance of women with breast cancer

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Abstract

Purpose

While the rate of survival has increased in the past decade, the diagnosis of breast cancer is an extremely stressful experience for patients and it is associated with the manifestation of several psychological problems. To examine the effect of a group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) on the quality of life and emotional disturbance of women with breast cancer.

Methods

The study was a randomized controlled clinical trial. Samples were 48 women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer and had undergone mastectomy and chemotherapy. Study variables were measured before and after the intervention and 1 month after the end of the intervention as a follow-up. Controls received nothing and were just followed-up. Repeated measure ANOVAs were used to compare the effectiveness of the intervention on the study variables.

Results

The results of 32 women were analyzed. The increase in quality of life scores was significantly higher in the intervention group compared to the control group (P < 0.05). There were also significantly lower changes in the depression, anxiety, and stress scores of the intervention group (P < 0.05). However, the changes in the score of death anxiety were not significantly lower in the intervention group in comparison to controls (P > 0.05).

Conclusion

Group cognitive behavioral therapy was effective in the improvement of quality of life and decreases some aspects of emotional disturbance. Findings of this study suggest that women with breast cancer can benefit from group CBT. Yet, some aspects of the mental health of these women may need more attention and individualized methods.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: IRCT20100911004728N4

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Data availability

All data will be available on request. Everyone can request the data. To gain access, data requestors will need to sign a data access agreement. The data is available for any purpose. All applications should be sent to Ranjbar.h@iums.ac.ir. All requests will be answered within a maximum of 1 month by email.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the research deputy of Islamic Azad University of Medical Sciences in supporting this research. Also, they would like to thank all patients who participated in the study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, School of Behavioral Sciences, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Faranak Jelvehzadeh, Ebrahim Rezaei Dogaheh & Shima Shakiba

  2. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Colleen Bernstein

  3. Mental Health Research Center, Psychosocial Health Research Institute, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Mansouri st, Niyayesh st, Sattarkhan Ave, Tehran, Iran

    Hadi Ranjbar

Authors
  1. Faranak Jelvehzadeh
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Contributions

H.R., F.J., E.R.D., and H.R. wrote the manuscript draft. F.J., E.R.D., and Sh.Sh. designed the study. F.J. and E.R.D. conducted the intervention. H.R. conducted statistical analyses. All authors reviewed the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hadi Ranjbar.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval

This study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences (IR.USWR.REC.1394.159). A written informed consent which was approved by the Ethics Committee was obtained from each patient. The trial protocol is also registered in the Iranian Clinical Trial registry system (IRCT2015101924608N1). Furthermore, at the end of the study period, the same CBT intervention was performed for women who were assigned to the control group.

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Jelvehzadeh, F., Dogaheh, E.R., Bernstein, C. et al. The effect of a group cognitive behavioral therapy on the quality of life and emotional disturbance of women with breast cancer. Support Care Cancer 30, 305–312 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06421-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06421-4

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