Evaluation of the effectiveness of group schema therapy on death anxiety and emotional disturbance in patients with breast cancer in Shiraz

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. This has led doctors, psychologists to seek to discover the causes, treatment and ultimately improve the mental health of this group of patients.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of group schema therapy on death anxiety and emotional turmoil in patients with breast cancer in Shiraz.

The present study was quasi-experimental and of pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population of this research included all patients referred to medical centers and hospitals in Shiraz from July to September 2019 diagnosed with breast cancer. Using the targeted sampling method, 50 women with breast cancer were selected and randomly assigned to 2 groups (control and experimental). The experimental group received the educational intervention of group schema therapy in 8 sessions of 45 minutes and 1 session per week. The control group did not receive any intervention; the questionnaires used in this research included Death Anxiety Questionnaire and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Questionnaire. SPSS version 24 software and covariance analysis were used for data analysis.  

Findings showed that group schema therapy training protocols had a significant effect on reducing death anxiety and emotional turmoil in women with breast cancer (P≤0.001). The effect size for death anxiety and emotional disturbance was 0.576 and 0.247, respectively.

The effectiveness of group schema therapy on reducing death anxiety and emotional disturbance was confirmed in the present study. It is suggested to use this type of treatment to help women with breast cancer.