Effectiveness of Frederickson Positive Excitement Training on Resilience and Psychological Capital of Patients with Breast Cancer

Chronic diseases, including cancer, affect the lives of millions of people as a major source of stress. However, Frederickson’s positive emotions training can increase the resilience and psychological capital of these patients.

This study aimed to determine the effect of Frederickson’s positive emotion training program on the resilience and psychological capital of patients with breast cancer in Bandar Abbas, Iran.

This is a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test and post-test design and a control group conducted in Bandar Abbas in 2019. There were 15 women with breast cancer in each group of intervention and control, with the same severity and level of disease. The study instruments included the Luthans Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ) and the Connor and Davidson Resilience Scale. The validity and reliability of these tools have been investigated in previous studies. Frederickson’s Positive Emotions Training was held in nine sessions (90 min a month). Questionnaires were completed in the first and ninth stages of intervention. Data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 22) through descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation and inferential statistics by analysis of covariance.

Based on the obtained results, Frederickson’s positive emotion training program increased resilience (Eta=0.82, P<0.001) and the psychological capital (Eta=0.77, P<0.001) of patients with breast cancer.

It can be concluded that the positive emotion training program can improve the resilience and the psychological capital of patients with breast cancer. It is recommended that this program should be used to improve the psychological problems of cancer patients.