Effectiveness of Compassion-Focused Therapy on Blood Pressure and Quality of Life in Women with Hypertension

Due to the increasing prevalence of patients with hypertension in Iran and the world as well as the adverse impact of this disease on quality of life, there is an urgent need to develop effective and empirically supported psychological interventions in this population. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of compassion-focused therapy on blood pressure and the quality of life in women with hypertension. This quasi-experimental study was of pretest-posttest control group design which included a total of 30 women with hyprtension. After initial clinical assessment, the patients who met the inclusion criteria were assigned into two groups of compassion-focused and control group (n=15) using non-probability sampling. In addition to medical treatment, the experimental group received 8 sessions of compassion-focused health care. However, the control group received only medication. The data were collected using a sphygmomanometer (digital type) and the World Health Organization's Quality of Life Questionnaire. In addition, multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was utilized in order to analyze the data. The results showed the effectiveness of compassion-focused therapy on lowering systolic hypertension and the quality of life in women who referred to the health centers. In other words, compassion-focused therapy reduced systolic blood pressure (0.018) and increased the quality of life (P<0.001) of patients with hypertension. However, compassion-focused therapy had no effect on reducing diastolic blood pressure (0.073). Hypertension affects quality of life of many women, and it is regarded one of the main causes of heart disease and stroke in this population unless it is treated. Blood pressure associated with vascular aging is expected to be a dominant phenotype in many countries, especially in Asia. The influence of compassion-focused therapy in reducing systolic blood pressure and increaseing the quality of life of patients with hypertension have practical implications for clinicians and health care providers working in health centers.