The Effect of Group Hope Therapy on Spiritual Health of Cancer Patients:A Semi Experimental Study

Cancer is one of the most common chronic diseases that affects the spiritual health of patients. Therefore, interventions are needed to improve the spiritual health of patients. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of group hope therapy on the spiritual health of cancer patients.

This quasi-experimental study was performed from December to March 2015 in Gonabad city. The study population was all cancer patients and the research environment was cancer clinic. Forty patients were selected by simple random sampling method and randomly divided into experimental (n=20) and control (n=20) groups. After completing demographic and spiritual health Paloutzian & Ellison questionnaires, Hope group therapy sessions were performed in 8 sessions of 90 minutes once a week in the experimental group; but the control group received only routine care. The spiritual health questionnaire was completed again at the end of the last session. Data were analyzed using independent t-test, paired-t test and covariance analysis.

According to the results of the study, the two groups didn't have any significantly difference in terms of demographic variables (p>0.05).  The mean score of spiritual health after the intervention showed a significant difference between the experimental and control groups (p<0.001). Group hope therapy also improved the spiritual health of cancer patients in the experimental group (p=0.012).

Considering the findings of the study, which showed that group hope therapy affects the spiritual health of cancer patients, it is recommended to use this method in the care and treatment of cancer patients.