Spiritual therapy on post-traumatic growth in women with breast cancer

Breast cancer is one of the most important diseases in women. Women with breast cancer suffer from different psychical and psychological problems. Researchers have shown that there are some psychological problems in this disease, including low self–efficacy, anxiety, depression, and low quality of life. Thus, it seems that post–traumatic growth (PTG) of women with breast cancer is important to be investigated. Post–traumatic growth is a factor that pays attention to the adaptation to psychological challenges. Post–traumatic growth is not about returning to the same life as it was previously experienced before a period of traumatic suffering. However, instead, it is about undergoing significant 'life–changing' psychological shifts in thinking and relating to the world that contributes to a personal process of change that is deeply meaningful. Psychological interventions have been done to help for increasing this factor and related–factors of breast cancer. The spiritual intervention has been considered as an effective therapeutic method in recent years. Religion and spirituality provide a series through which human beings can understand the meaning of their lives. That is why spirituality, a strong predictor of hope and mental health, is an important source of physical health and improvement of the condition of the disease. We have a particular need for intervention in patients with cancer. However, in this study, we applied spiritual therapy to improve post–traumatic growth in women with breast cancer. 

The method of present study was a semi–experimental study with pre–posttest with a 3 month follow–up and control group design. The population was women with breast cancer at Omid hospital of Mashhad (Khorasan–e–Razavi province, Northeast of Iran). After considering the inclusion and exclusion of criteria, an availability sampling method was conducted to recruit subjects. The study carried out in 2017. First, we randomly assigned 14 patients for each group (control and experimental groups), then we conducted pretests for each group using PTG questionnaire (Tedeschi, Calhoun, 1996; this 21–item scale includes factors of new possibilities, relating to others, personal strength, spiritual change, and appreciation of life, the reliably and validity of this scale is good). Next, experimental group received the spiritual therapy (12 sessions, 120 minutes) and control group did not receive any programs. After the program, both groups were assessed as a posttest and after three months, were again measured as a follow– up session. Finally, the data analyzed by SPSS22 and using a repeated measure of ANOVA and descriptive indexes such as arithmetic mean and standard deviation. 

The mean age of the experimental and control group was 47.92 (SD=9.77) and 46.85 (SD=8.72), respectively. In the result section, we first examined ANOVA assumptions. The findings showed that all assumptions were homolog. After that, the results showed that the spiritual therapy had a significant effect on factors of new possibilities, relating to others, personal strength, spiritual change, and appreciation of life (p<0.05). Moreover, the results showed that the spiritual therapy significantly influence on the total score of post–traumatic growth (p<0.05).

Spiritual therapy was an acceptable intervention to improve post–traumatic growth in women with breast cancer. It is recommended to use this program for women with breast cancer.