Comparing the effectiveness of positive psychotherapy and psychotherapy based on acceptance and commitment on life expectancy and body image of women with breast cancer

Cancer is considered as the major health problem of the century, and its increasing growth in the last two decades and its harmful effects on the physical, psychological, social and economic aspects of human life are causing more concern to experts than ever. The present study was conducted with the aim of comparing the effectiveness of positive psychotherapy and psychotherapy based on acceptance and commitment on life expectancy and body image of women with breast cancer.

The research method was semi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design with three groups (two experimental groups and one control group). The statistical population included all female patients aged 20 to 45 with breast cancer who received a definite diagnosis of breast cancer according to clinical and laboratory examinations by a specialist. Among these, 45 people were selected by non-random sampling and were replaced in two experimental groups (positive psychotherapy and treatment based on acceptance and commitment) and a control group in a simple random manner (15 people in each group). Then, the first experimental group was treated in 10 90-minute sessions (one session per week) with positive psychotherapy methods, and the second experimental group was treated with acceptance and commitment-based therapy, and the waiting list group was not subjected to any intervention until the end of the follow-up. The data were collected with the help of Snyder's life expectancy questionnaires and body image questionnaires and were analyzed through the analysis of variance test with repeated measurements and using SPSS-22 software.

The research results showed that there is a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in all variables (p<0.01). Also, Bonferroni’s post hoc test indicated that positive psychotherapy has a greater effect on life expectancy (P<0.001) and body image (P<0.001) than treatment based on acceptance and commitment.

As a result, it can be said that the use of both methods along with other treatment methods is effective in improving the psychological status of vulnerable groups, including breast cancer patients.