Comparative study of the effect of multidimensional spiritual therapy and stress inoculation training (SIT) on physiological and psychological coordination of heart rate variability (HRV) and depression in patients after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery

This study was conducted to compare the effect of multidimensional spiritual therapy and stress inoculation training (SIT) on physiological and psychological coordination of heart rate variability (HRV) and depression in patients after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.

Depression and other emotional disorders play an important role in reducing the physiological and psychological coordination of heart rate in patients after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Depression and other emotional disorders prevent the person from recovering from the pathologic condition. It seems that preparing the patient for proper coping techniques is helpful in improving emotional disorders and preventing recurrence of disease.

This was a clinical trial with two experimental and one control group. The study population included patients after CABG in Tehran Cardiac Research Center, Tehran, Iran. Thirty patients were randomly selected and assigned into three groups. The instrument of this study was the DASS-21 scale and the evaluation of physiological and psychological coordination of heart rate, which was measured before the intervention and at the end of the 10th session in groups. The first experimental group was exposed to the Meichenbaum stress inoculation training for 10 sessions of 90-minute duration, and the second experimental group received multidimensional spiritual therapy. Data were analyzed using Multivariate analysis of covariance in SPSS.

Multivariate analysis of covariance showed that SIT and multidimensional spiritual therapy interventions both have a statistically significant effect in reducing depression in one-month and three-month follow-up, compared to the control group, but their effects on reducing depression was significantly different (-2.200, P=0.002). However, no statistically significant difference was observed between experimental groups in terms of changes in physiological and psychological coordination (-0.00133, P=0.1).

SIT intervention seems to be less effective than multidimensional spiritual therapy in reducing depression, but its effect on changes in physiological and psychological coordination is the same as multidimensional spiritual therapy.