Effectiveness of Positive Thinking Training on Stress, Rumination and Body Image Concern in Mastectomized Women

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer and mastectomy is one of the initial treatments in the breast cancer which causes physical impairment and psychological disorders. Therefore, the aim of present research was determine the effectiveness of positive thinking training on stress, rumination and body image concern in mastectomized women.

This study was a semi experimental with a pre-test and post-test design with an experimental and control groups. The research population was mastectomized women in Shafa hospital of Ahvaz city in 2017 year. The research sample was 40 people which selected by available sampling method and randomly replaced into two equal groups. The experimental group received eight 90-minute sessions undergoing positive thinking training and the control group didn’t receive any training. The groups responded in the pre-test and post-test stages to the questionnaires of stress, rumination and body image concern. Data were analyzed with using SPSS-22 software and by multivariate analysis of covariance method.

The experimental and control groups had a significant difference in terms of stress, rumination and body image concern. In the other words, the positive thinking training led to significant decrease the stress (F=115/27, P<0/001), rumination (F=133/49, P<0/001) and body image concern (F=154/78, P<0/001) in mastectomized women.

The results showed the effectiveness of positive thinking training on reducing stress, rumination and body image concern in mastectomized women. Therefore, therapists can use from positive thinking training method for psychological interventions, especially for reducing stress, rumination and body image concern.