Effects of a Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy–Based Education Program on Marital Stress in Couples Coping with Breast Cancer

Being diagnosed with breast cancer is usually associated with stress, and the overflow of this stress in the form of marital stress affects the marital relationship of couples. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of an education program based on rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) on marital stress of couples coping with breast cancer in Qazvin. The method of this study was semi-experimental and its design was pretest and posttest with a control group. The population of the present study included all the couples with breast cancer who visited Velayat hospital in Qazvin province in October 2018. Sixty women were selected via available sampling and tested. Of them, 18 women, along with their husbands (18 couples), who had a score above average on the marital stress scale were selected and randomly assigned to two groups. The experimental group received 8 2-hour sessions of education based on REBT. The research instrument was the Stockholm-Tehran Marital Stress Scale (STMSS). Data were analyzed using covariance analysis. The experimental group had significantly lower marital stress compared with the control group (p < 0.001). Based on the findings of this research, it can be concluded that education based on REBT reduces marital stress of couples who are coping with breast cancer.