The effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral intervention based on stress-induced immunization training on psycho-physiological and psychological characteristics of patients with coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG)

Stress immunization training is a combination of the best cognitive-behavioral elements. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of stress-induced immunostimulatory training on psychophysiologic indices (salivary cortisol) and psychological indicators (anxiety, stress and depression) in patients with coronary artery bypass graft.

In this Semi-experimental study with control group and pre-test-post-test design, the statistical population included patients who had coronary artery bypass surgery and referred to the Rehab center of Tehran Heart Hospital. 30 subjects were selected by simple random sampling and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The instrument of this study was the Kit cortisol and  DASS-21 scale of depression, anxiety and stress. The experimental group was exposed to an independent variable (training for immunization against stress) for 10 sessions of 90 minutes. To analyze the data, multivariate covariance analysis, univariate analysis of covariance in Mancoe text and SPSS software were used.

Stress immunization training had an effect on salivary cortisol (p <0.001), depression (p <0.001), stress (p <0.001) and anxiety (p <0.001) in the experimental group.

Reducing negative emotions following stress immunization training plays an important role in preventing the more severe complications of heart disease; so interventions based on the results of this study are recommended for patients with cardiac diseases.