Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The effect of stress inoculation training on existential anxiety and resilience of cancer patients

  • Published:
Current Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Cancer is a chronic disease that is spreading day by day. Most people with cancer suffer from a lot of anxiety and stress. With regard to this issue, the present study investigated the effect of group training program for stress-inoculation on existential anxiety and resilience of cancer patients. The study was a randomized clinical trial conducted on 30 people with cancer who referred to Imam Reza Hospital in Kermanshah, Iran. Then they were randomly divided into two groups of intervention and control. The Connor-Davidson Resilience Questionnaire was used to collect information. Before the intervention, both groups completed the questionnaires. Then the intervention group received 8 sessions of 60–90-min stress-inoculation training. At the end of the intervention, both groups completed the research questionnaires immediately and after one month. The data was analyzed using SPSS25. The results showed a significant decrease in existential anxiety (p ≤ 0.001) and an increase in resilience (p ≤ 0.001) after stress-immunization training in the intervention group. During one month of follow-up, the results showed a significant decrease in existential anxiety (p ≤ 0.001), but no significant increase in resilience (p = 0.064). According to the results of this study, group training program for stress-inoculation has reduced the level of existential anxiety and resilience in cancer patients. Therefore, it is recommended that stress-inoculation training be considered in cancer patients. Trial registration: Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials IRCT20130812014333N100. Registered 2018-08-29, https://www.irct.ir/search/result?query=IRCT20130812014333N100

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

CD-RISC-10:

Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale

EAQ:

Existential Anxiety Questionnaire

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

References

  • Abdolkhani, M., & Moein, L. (2016). The relationship between religious beliefs and resilience and life expectancy in women with cancer in Shiraz, Fourth National Conference on Sustainable Development in Educational Sciences and Psychology, Social and Cultural Studies, Tehran. https://civilica.com/doc/546565.

  • Alvord, M. K., & Grados, J. J. (2005). Enhancing resilience in children: A proactive approach. Professional psychology: research and practice., 36(3), 238–245.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Besharat, M. A. (2007). Psychometric properties of Farsi version of the Emotional Intelligence Scale-41 (FEIS-41). Personality and Individual Differences, 43(5), 991–1000.

  • Blinderman, C. D. (2016). Psycho-existential distress in cancer patients: A return to “entheogens”. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 30(12), 1205–1206. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881116675761.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, L. F., Kroenke, K., Theobald, D. E., Wu, J., & Tu, W. (2010). The association of depression and anxiety wit health-related quality of life in cancer patients with depression and/or pain. Psycho-Oncology., 19(7), 734–741. https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.1627.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, L. E. (2016). Mindfulness-based interventions for coping with cancer. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1373(1), 5–12.

  • Charmchi, N., Asgari, P., Hafezi, F., Makvandi, B., & BakhtiyarPour S. (2016). The effect of “cognitive behavior therapy” in method group on anxiety and psychological resilience of menopausal women. Journal of Health Promotion Management, 5(5), 15–22.

  • Connor, K. M., & Davidson, J. R. (2003). Development of a new resilience scale: The Connor-Davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC). Depression and anxiety., 18(2), 76–82.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ghanbari, N., Golestan Jahromi, F., Bani Hashem, K., & Moazen, M. (2014). The effect of stress inoculation training (SIT) on depression and anxiety in patients with prostate Cancer. Journal of Sabzevar university of medical sciences. J Sabzevar Univ Med Sci., 21(5), 735–742.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hag Rabbi, F., Kakavand, A., Borjeli, A., & Barmas, H. (2011). Resilience and quality of mothers with mentally retarded children. Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 1(1), 187–177.

  • Hashemi Fesharaki, M., Shahgholian, N., & Kashani, F. (2016). Effect of stress inoculation training on the levels of stress, anxiety, and depression in hemodialysis patients. Journal of Urmia Nursing And Midwifery Faculty., 14(1), 88–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hossaini Ghomi, T., & Salimie-Bajestani, H. (2013). The effectiveness of resilient education on the stress of mothers with cancer. Health Psychology, 1(4), 97–109.

  • Jemal, A., Bray, F., Center, M. M., Ferlay, J., Ward, E., & Forman, D. (2011). Global cancer statistics. CA: a cancer journal for clinicians., 61(2), 69–90. https://doi.org/10.3322/caac.20107.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jokar, E., & Rahmati, A. (2015). The effect of stress inoculation training on anxiety and quality of sleep of pregnant women in third trimester. Journal of Fundamentals of Mental Health, 17(2), 102–111.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kashani, F., Kashani, P., Moghimian, M., & Shakour, M. (2015). Effect of stress inoculation training on the levels of stress, anxiety, and depression in cancer patients. Iranian Journal Of Nursing And Midwifery Research, 20(3), 359 PMC4462062.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Khorram, R., Dirmanchi, N., & Khanjani, M. S. (2019). Comparison of resilience and self-efficacy in athletes and non-athletes with disabilities caused by spinal cord injury. Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, 25(2), 150–163.

  • Kinani, S. R., Ahangarezaiezadeh, S., Oladrostam, N., & Nemotplahi, A. (2017). The effect of positive thinking training on stress, anxiety and depression in coronary heart disease. Journal of Nurse-Midwifery, 15(5), 339–348.

  • Lo, C., Panday, T., Zeppieri, J., Rydall, A., Murphy-Kane, P., Zimmermann, C., et al. (2017). Preliminary psychometrics of the Existential Distress Scale in patients with advanced cancer. European Journal Of Cancer Care. 26(6). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ecc.12597

  • Makipour, S., Shafiabadi, A., & Soudani, M. (2011). The effectiveness of stress inoculation group training (SIT) on reducing job stress of employees of RAZAK pharmaceutical company in Tehran. Iran Occupational Health, 7(4), 9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maria, B., Christina, M-J., Susann, S., Ella, D., Ingela, H. (2010). Health care staff's opinions about existential issues among patients with cancer.;18(1):59–68. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S147895150999071X

  • Masoodi Sani, R., Bahmani, B., Asgari, A., MS, K., & Paknia, N. (2015-2016). Bulding,Reliability and Validity Of The Anxiety inventory. Biannual Journal of Clinical Psychology & Personality., 13(2), 151–162.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mok, E., Lau, K. P., Lam, W. M., Chan, L. N., Ng, J. S., & Chan, K. S. (2010). Healthcare professionals’ perceptions of existential distress in patients with advanced cancer. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 66(7), 1510–1522. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2010.05330.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mu’taz, M. D., & Hamdan-Mansour, A. M. (2016). Pain, sleep disturbance, and quality of life among Palestinian patients diagnosed with cancer. Journal of Cancer Education., 31(4), 796–803. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-015-0946-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rasouli, R., & Razmizade, H. (2013). Effectiveness of stress inoculation training in reducing 34-anxiety and stress in students. International Journal of Behavioral Sciences., 7(1), 43–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, S. (2017). Worldview and existential anxiety: Cross-sectional survey study about the hypothesized relation of worldview and existential anxiety. University of Twente.

  • Shalkouhi, F. H., Vatankhah, H., & Zarbakhsh, M. (2015). The effectiveness of stress inoculation training (SIT) on Resiliency and life expectancy in infertile women from Rasht. European Online Journal of Natural and Social Sciences., 4(1), 117.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Bruggen, V., Vos, J., Westerhof, G., Bohlmeijer, E., & Glas, G. (2015). Systematic review of existential anxiety instruments. Journal of humanistic psychology., 55(2), 173–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vehling, S., Lehmann, C., Oechsle, K., Bokemeyer, C., Krüll, A., Koch, U., & Mehnert, A. (2012). Is advanced cancer associated with demoralization and lower global meaning? The role of tumor stage and physical problems in explaining existential distress in cancer patients. Psycho-Oncology., 21(1), 54–63. https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.1866.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vin-Raviv, N., Akinyemiju, T. F., Galea, S., & Bovbjerg, D. H. (2015). Depression and anxiety disorders among hospitalized women with breast cancer. PLoS One, 10(6), e0129169. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0129169.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Weems, C. F., Russell, J. D., Neill, E. L., Berman, S. L., & Scott, B. G. (2016). Existential anxiety among adolescents exposed to disaster: Linkages among level of exposure, ptsd, and depression symptoms. Journal of traumatic stress., 29(5), 466–473.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the faculty members of the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences.

Authors’contributions

SA and MR and JR contributed to the design, NS statistical analysis, participated in most of the study steps. FSZ and SM prepared the manuscript. SA and MR assisted in designing the study, and helped in the, interpretation of the study. All authors have read and approved the content of the manuscript.

Availability of Data and Materials

Datasets are available through the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Funding

By Student Research Committee of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Deputy for Research and Technology, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences (IR) (IR.KUMS.REC.1397.165). This deputy has no role in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Student research committee, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences (KUMS), Kermanshah, Iran

    Sara Ahmadi

  2. Department of Biostatistics, School of Health, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran

    Nader Salari

  3. Department of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran

    Jahangir Rezaei

  4. Department of Psychiatric Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences (KUMS), Kermanshah, Iran

    Mahmoud Rahmati

Authors
  1. Sara Ahmadi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Nader Salari
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jahangir Rezaei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mahmoud Rahmati
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mahmoud Rahmati.

Ethics declarations

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

Ethics approval was received from the ethics committee of deputy of research and technology, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences (IR.KUMS.REC.1397.165). Written informed consent was obtained from all study participants.

Consent for Publication

Not applicable.

Competing Interests

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

IRCT registration information and ethics code

This clinical trial study has been registered in IRCT with 20130812014333N100 code and with ethics code of IR.KUMS.REC.1397.165 from the Vice Chancellor for Research and Technology of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ahmadi, S., Salari, N., Rezaei, J. et al. The effect of stress inoculation training on existential anxiety and resilience of cancer patients. Curr Psychol 42, 3643–3649 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01729-0

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01729-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation