Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Stress Management in Reducing Anxiety, Stress and Depression of Women with Breast Cancer

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral stress management in reducing the anxiety, depression and stress of women with breast cancer. This study is experimental with a pretest-posttest control group design. The study population was limited to women with breast cancer who had referred to Mostafa-Khomeyni Hospital from among which 18 patients were selected and randomly assigned between two groups: experimental group (n=9) and control group (n=9). The independent variable was cognitive-behavioral stress management which was administrated in 10 weekly sessions on the experimental group while there was no psychological treatment for the control group. The research instrument was DASS-21 and HADS. The data was analyzed using covariance analysis and based on 16 patients experience surveys. Cognitive–behavioral stress management led to reduction in the anxiety, depression and stress in DASS-21 and HADS variables among patients of the experimental group (with the anxiety and depression (P<0/01) and stress (P<0/05)). Cognitive–behavioral stress management for women with breast cancer may also be used as a supplement method enhancing standard oncological treatment.