The effect of cognitive existential group therapy on depression and hopefulness of parent with children having cancer

This Study used a semi experimental method as the pretest – posttest and to evaluate the effectiveness of cognitive-existential group therapy on Depression and Hopefulness of parent with children having cancer. For this purpose 30 parents with children having cancer (24 to 54 years old) were divided randomly into experimental and control groups. Both groups were evaluated with Beck depression Inventory–II (1996) and Miller Hopes Questionnaire (1988), before the intervention. The experimental group received cognitive-existential group therapy in 12 sessions, each lasting 90 minutes (2 sessions per week), but no psychological intervention was applied in control group. At the end of interventions, both groups were reassessed. Data using SPSS-16 software for statistical analysis of covariance test were analyzed. finding indicates significant differences in rates of Depression and Hopefulness between the two groups in favor of experimental group. cognitive-existential group therapy can be effective in decreasing depression and increasing Hopefulness in parent of children with cancer.