The Effect of Hope Therapy with an Islamic Approach in Comparison with Classical Hope Therapy on Happiness and Quality of Life in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease

In coronary heart disease, patients commonly experience decreased happiness and quality of life. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of hope therapy with an Islamic approach in comparison with classical hope therapy on increasing happiness and quality of life of the patients with coronary heart disease.

The present study used a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design. 60 patients with coronary heart disease in one of the hospitals in Qom, Iran, were selected by random sampling method. Data collection instruments included questionnaires of hope, happiness, and quality of life (SF-36). After collecting the pre-test data, the participants were divided into three peer groups, with intervention sessions performed in 8 90-minute sessions. The main experimental group received hope therapy with an Islamic approach, the second experimental group received classical hope, and the control group received a stress response package only. After that, the questionnaires were re-administered in all groups. Data were analyzed using Levin, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, and Covariance test. In this study, all ethical considerations were observed and no conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

The findings of the present study showed that Islamic and classical hope therapy significantly increased hope, quality of life and happiness in people with coronary heart disease. Also, the results indicated that the method of Islamic hope therapy is more effective in increasing the quality of life and happiness than classical hope therapy in patients with coronary heart disease.

Based on the findings, the use of Islamic hope therapy in patients with coronary heart disease is recommended. It is suggested that future studies implement Islamic hope therapy and evaluate its effectiveness in other chronic diseases.