Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Positive Psychotherapy on Anxiety, Perceived Stress, and Medication Adherence in Patients with Asthma

 Asthma is considered to be a psychosomatic disease with different physical and mental dimensions, each of which can exacerbate the other, and suitable treatment of this disease requires appropriate medical and psychological measures. The present study was an attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of positive psychotherapy on anxiety, perceived stress, and medication adherence in patients with asthma.

 The present quasi-experimental study was conducted with a pretest-posttest, 2-group design and follow-up. The statistical population included all patients with asthma referred to the specialized and sub-specialized center of Milad Hospital in Tehran, Iran, in 2019. To form 2 groups, first, 30 people were selected using purposeful sampling method (considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria). Then, 15 people were randomly assigned to the experimental group and 15 people were assigned to the control group. The study research tools included the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI; 1990), Perceived Stress Questionnaire Scale (PSS; Cohen et al., 1983), and Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS; 2010). The collected data were analyzed using the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS software.

 The results showed that positive psychotherapy had a significant effect on the components of anxiety, perceived stress, and medication treatment in patients with asthma (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the effectiveness of positive psychotherapy was significant on the components of anxiety and medication adherence over time (P < 0.05).

 It can be concluded that positive psychotherapy was effective in reducing anxiety and increasing medication adherence.