the effect of self compassion training on body image and quality of life in women with breast cancer without metastasis under chemotherapy

Getting a diagnosis of breast cancer and treating, it is a stressful event that affects many aspects of mental health, including body image and quality of life. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of self compassion training on body image and quality of life in women with breast cancer without metastasis under chemotherapy. The research design was a semi-experimental, pret-post test with control group. Twenty-nine women (according to entry criteria) were selected by referring to the office of ancolologists and Ayatollah Khansari Hospital in Arak in 1397. They were randomly divided into two groups of experimental and control. The participants responded to body image questionnaires in patients with breast cancer and quality of life as a pretest.The experimental group was trained based on self compassion package, eight sessions of 60 minutes. Finally, the participants of both groups responded to the questionnaires as a post-test.The results showed that self-compassion training, with emphasis on the three components of kindness with itself, human sharing and mind-consciousness, had a positive and significant effect on improving the body image. Also, based on the findings, the quality of life of women, especially in the physical and mental areas, in the experimental group, had a positive and significant increase compared to the control group. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the development of educational and therapeutic programs based on self compassion can help to improve the mental health and quality of life in cancer patients.