Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) on Psychological Symptoms in Patients with Cancer

Cancer is one of the most common chronic diseases that its patients face with various psychological problems; therefore, methods should be sought to reduce the severity of the psychological problems among these patients. Therefore this study was done aimed to evaluate of effectiveness of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) on psychological symptoms of patients with cancer.  It was a semi-experimental research and has been executed by pre-test and post-test with control group. The research population included all patients with cancer who referred to Shahid Mohammadi Hospital in Bandar Abbas. It contained 30 cancer patients who were selected through purposive sampling method and randomly placed in two experimental and control groups (15 individuals per group).The members of both groups completed the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) before and after the sessions of group therapy (within three months). Findings have been analyzed by SPSS software and covariance analysis (ANCOVA). The results showed that the difference between experimental group and control group were significant respectively in psychological symptoms of depression (F= 84.11, p<0.001), anxiety (F= 47.52, p<0.001) and stress (F= 59.51, p<0.001). According to the results, it can be said that it is necessary for therapeutic centers and support forums related with cancer patients to use MBCT in their plans to reduce psychological symptoms of patients.