A Comparative Study on Effectiveness of Narrative Therapy and Rational Emotional Behavior Therapy on Resilience of Women with Breast Surgery Experience

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of narrative therapy and rational emotive behavior therapy on Resilience in women with breast surgery experience.

This was a semi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest, controlled design with follow-up. The study population consisted of all women with breast cancer who were undergoing postmastectomy radiotherapy in Tabriz in 2018. In total, 30 women were selected by a purposive sampling method, and divided into three groups of narrative therapy, rational emotive behavior therapy, and control. The intervention groups received their respective treatments over 8 sessions of 1.5 hours. The groups were assessed using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale before, after, and four months after the treatment.

The mean postintervention resilience scores for the narrative therapy and rational emotive behavior therapy groups (66.4 and 79.9, respectively) were significantly greater compared with the control group (51.9) (P < 0.001). Similar results were observed at the 4-mont follow-up indicating a lasting effect. Also, the effect of rational emotive behavior therapy on resilience was greater than that of narrative therapy both after the intervention and at 4-month follow-up (P < 0.001).

Narrative therapy and rational emotive behavior therapy increased resiliency in women with breast surgery experience.