The Effectiveness of Existential Psychotherapy on Psychological Capital and Affective Control in Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy

In addition to the physical problems caused by the disease and the treatment process, cancer patients also face several psychological and emotional consequences that existential psychotherapy may be effective in this regard. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of existential psychotherapy on psychological capital and affective control in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of existential psychotherapy on psychological capital and affective control in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. This study was a quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test with the control group and its statistical population consisted of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy at Omid Hospital in Mashhad in 2021, of which 22 as a sample and by Convenience Sampling Method were selected and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Existential psychotherapy program was then performed in nine 90-minute sessions for the experimental group, during which time the control group did not receive any intervention. The groups were tested before and after the intervention with the psychological capital questionnaire of Luthans et al (2007) and the affective control questionnaire of the Williams et al (1997). Data were analyzed using single and multivariate analysis of covariance using SPSS-26 software.

The results of ANCOVA showed that existential psychotherapy promoted psychological capital (F = 33.34, p< 0.001, η = 0.64) and affective control (F = 14.44, p< 0.001, η = 0.43). The results of MANCOVA showed that existential psychotherapy is significantly effective in improving the dimensions of psychological capital (self-efficacy, hope, resilience, optimism) (p<0.05) and the same improving effects for the dimensions of affective control (anger, depressed mood, anxiety, positive affect). It was confirmed (p<0.05).

The results indicated the effectiveness of existential psychotherapy on psychological capital and emotional control in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. As a result, the need to use existential therapies focused on issues related to cancer patients, especially with a focus on improving psychological capital and affective control in them, seems necessary and important.
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