Effectiveness of Spirituality Therapy in Decreasing Anxiety, Depression and Distress of Women Suffering from Breast Cancer

Spirituality therapy is defined as considering the patient’s spiritual beliefs in the process of therapy. Spiritual beliefs bring about specific experience and emergence of appropriate and responsible behaviors in individuals. The research purpose was to assess the effectiveness of spirituality therapy in decreasing anxiety, depression and distress of women suffering from breast cancer. Therefore, a sample of 29 patients suffering from breast cancer and hospitalized in Valiy-eAsr Hospital and Mehraneh Charity Center located in Zanjan was selected through convenience sampling and assigned to the experimental (15) and control (14) groups. The experimental group underwent eight 90-minute sessions of spirituality therapy, while, the control group received relaxation training. Both groups were tested in terms of depression, anxiety and stress, both prior to and subsequent to the training. Results of covariance analysis indicated that spirituality therapy is effective in the decrease of depression, anxiety and stress of women suffering from breast cancer. With regard to the results, it seems that spiritual intervention should be emphasized in a therapeutic package or at least a set of psychological interventions and applications in the treatment of breast cancer sufferers.