Effectiveness of stress-induced immunostimulatory therapy on quality of life and perceived stress in cardiovascular patients

Due to the increasing prevalence of cardiovascular disease, it is necessary to identify preventive or exacerbating factors for cardiovascular diseases by providing strategies and models for improving the quality of life and reducing risk of the disease. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Stress Inoculation Training on perceived stress and quality of life in cardiovascular patients in Khorramabad city.
The present study was semi-invariant with pre-test, post-test and follow-up test. The statistical population included all cardiovascular patients in Khorramabad city. A sample of 66 cardiovascular patients referred to a specialty cardiac hospital was randomly divided into two groups of control and experimental group. Individuals from the Stress Inoculation Training group were subjected to 10 sessions of treatment and the control group received only routine treatments and a follow-up test was performed 2 months after the post-test. For data collection, Cohen perceived stress questionnaire and World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREEF) were used. For data analysis, Repeated Measure ANOVA was used.
Comparison of mean perceived stress scores and quality of life in the two groups (control and experiment), in the three study periods (pre and post-follow up), indicated that the Stress Inoculation Training was successful in managing stress, reduced perceived stress and increased the quality of life of cardiovascular patients (P By Stress Inoculation Training, therapists can apply the techniques they have learned to live in stressful situations and find that they are able to decide and control stress events. It is a life of self, a feeling of inner satisfaction, which increases the quality of life of patients. It is suggested that this psychotherapy should be taught to psychologists and hospital nurses to control the stress of heart patients and improve the quality of life of these patients.