EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY ON WORRY, RUMINATION, AND ASTHMA CONTROL IN PATIENTS WITH ASTHMA

Patients with asthma experience high levels of stress. Asthma is a major health problem in most parts of the world. Psychological therapies can play a major role in reducing health-related disorders such as worry, rumination, and asthma control. The present study investigates the effectiveness of group cognitive-behavioral therapy on worry, rumination, and asthma control in patients with asthma.

This quasi-experimental study was a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up with a control group. The statistical population of the present study consisted of all patients with asthma in Urmia in 2019. Twenty-four patients with asthma were selected by purposive sampling after reviewing the inclusion criteria and then they were randomly divided into two groups of 12 (experimental group and control group). The two groups were evaluated in the pre-test using the Nalin Hooksma and Murrow (1991) mental rumination questionnaire, the Penstet Zeinberg and Barlow questionnaire (PSWQ) and the asthma control test (ACT). The experimental group then underwent group cognitive-behavioral therapy while the control group did not receive any psychological intervention. At the end of eight sessions of treatment, the experimental and control groups in the post-test and follow-up stages were evaluated again by questionnaires. Then, the data were analyzed by analysis of covariance.

The results showed that cognitive-behavioral therapy had a significant effect on worry and asthma control in the experimental group but was not significant in the rumination variable despite the difference.

It can be concluded that cognitive-behavioral therapy can be effective as a complementary therapy along with drug therapy in people with asthma.