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Effects of family-centered positive psychological intervention on psychological health and quality of life in patients with breast cancer and their caregivers

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Abstract

Purpose

Positive psychological intervention could improve individual’s psychological health and quality of life. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of family-centered positive psychological intervention on resilience, hope, perceived benefits, and quality of life in breast cancer patients and their caregivers.

Methods

A two-group, randomized controlled study, including 98 dyads of breast cancer patients and caregivers, was conducted. Dyads were randomly assigned to intervention (n = 49) and control (n = 49) groups. Both the control and intervention groups received 4 weeks of health education, while the intervention group additionally received a 4-week family-centered positive psychological intervention. Outcome measures compared at baseline (T1), immediately after the intervention (T2), and at 1-month follow-up (T3), included validated measures of resilience (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale), hope (Herth Hope Index), perceived benefits (Perceived Benefits of Diagnosis and Treatment of Breast Cancer, Positive Aspects of Caregiving), and quality of life (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast, Caregiver Quality of Life Scale).

Results

Resilience, hope, perceived benefits, and quality of life of dyads were significantly higher in the intervention group than those in the control group at T2 and T3 (all p < 0.05). Linear mixed model analysis demonstrated a significant interaction effect of group × time × role (p = 0.007) on hope and a significant difference in the improvement of hope (p < 0.05) between patients and their caregivers.

Conclusions

Our family-centered positive psychological intervention was effective in improving psychological health and quality of life for breast cancer patients and caregivers. This study provides evidence for the effectiveness of positive clinical psychological interventions.

Trial registration

ChiCTR2300072809.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, JH. The data are not publicly available due to the ethical reasons.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the breast cancer patients, their caregivers, and the staff of the hospital who contributed to this study.

Funding

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (72204209), Major Project of Philosophy and Social science research in Jiangsu Universities (2020SJZDA126), Certificate of Jiangsu Postdoctoral Research Funding Program (2021K624C), and 2022 Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (KYCX22_2861).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nursing, Xuzhou Medical University, 209 Tongshan Road (221004), Xuzhou, China

    Yao Zhang, Ruijin Tang, Liuna Bi & Jing Han

  2. Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China

    Dan Wang, Xiaoxu Li & Feng Gu

  3. First Clinical College, Xuzhou Medical University, 209 Tongshan Road (221004), Xuzhou, China

    Ming Shi

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  1. Yao Zhang
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Contributions

Yao Zhang contributed to the conceptualization, analysis, and draft the original manuscript; Ruijin Tang and Liuna Bi contributed to the design, material preparation, and data collection; Dan Wang, Xiaoxu Li, and Feng Gu contributed to the design, investigation, and validation; Jing Han and Ming Shi contributed to the conceptualization, writing—review, editing, and project administration. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jing Han or Ming Shi.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics approval

This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the Hospital (Approval No. XYFY2022-KL048) and carried out in accordance with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. All participants provided written informed consent. This trial was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry at ChiCTR2300072809 on June 26, 2021.

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Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the study.

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Zhang, Y., Tang, R., Bi, L. et al. Effects of family-centered positive psychological intervention on psychological health and quality of life in patients with breast cancer and their caregivers. Support Care Cancer 31, 592 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-023-08053-2

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