Effectiveness of teaching anger management skills using cognitive-behavioral approach in the reduction of aggression among women suffering from breast cancer

Cancer patients are facing with the problems such as anxiety, depression, hopelessness, and aggression, which affect the various aspects of their life. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of teaching anger management skills using cognitive-behavioral approaches in the reduction of aggression. This quasi-experimental study with a pre-test/post-test design was performed on 30 female clients suffering from breast cancer referred to Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran, Iran, during 2014-2015. The participants were selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and assigned to the experimental and control groups. Then, the participants in the experimental group answered the Buss and Pray’s scale of aggression before and after the therapy sessions. After receiving the cognitive-behavioral therapy, results obtained from multivariate covariance analysis showed that the mean aggression score in the experimental group had a significantly meaningful reduction (P<0.05) compared to that of the control group. It seems that teaching the anger management skills, due to its cognitive improvement, has an effective role in the control of aggression among the women suffering from breast cancer.