Investigating the Relationship among the Quality of Married Life, Internet Addiction, and Mindfulness in Women with Breast Cancer: The Mediating Role of Sexual Satisfaction

Cyberspace has attracted sizeable audience thanks to its broad range of topics, diverse content, and audio and visual attractions. However, Internet addiction is believed to be a salient phenomenon as the consequence of improper use of cyberspace, which leads to mental and personality-related disorders. The present research aimed to investigate the mediating role of sexual satisfaction in the correlation among the quality of married life, Internet addiction, and mindfulness in patients with breast cancer. This is a descriptive correlational study. The statistical population herein comprised all the women with breast cancer in Tehran, Iran in 2022, out of whom a sample of 250 was conveniently selected. The research tools included the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale, the Internet Addiction Test, the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills, and the Index of Sexual Satisfaction. The research model was evaluated with structural equation modeling in AMOS-25 and SPSS version 27. Based on the obtained results, the mean and standard deviation (SD) of quality of married life, Internet addiction, mindfulness, and sexual satisfaction were 47.90±6.71, 59.18±8.88, 53.09±8.73, and 66.25±7.14, respectively. The results revealed the significance of all the direct paths (P<0.001), except for the path of mindfulness to the quality of married life. The indirect paths from Internet addiction to the quality of married life mediated by sexual satisfaction (P=0.010), and the association between mindfulness and the quality of married life mediated by sexual satisfaction (P=0.015) were also significant. Furthermore, the final model was found to have good fit (RMSEA=0.027). The research model herein had a desirable fit. It is an appropriate model, according to which different programs can be developed and designed in order to improve the quality of married life of patients with breast cancer.