Effectiveness of Memory Specificity Training on Emotion Regulation and Adherence in Cancer Patients

Cancer is one of the most  challenging diseases in the current age. Therefore it is important to choose and use an intervention aimed at improving the quality of life, mental health, and adaptation to the disease in cancer patients. This research is carried out to determine the effectiveness of Memory Specificity Training, as a short-term training intervention, on emotion regulation and adherence in cancer patients.

This survey is applied research using a semi-experiment design that applies repeated measures (pre-test/post-test/follow-up) control group. The study population consisted of all outpatients in Tehran hospitals and medical care centers, who are diagnosed with Cancer in 2021. 60 patients were recruited by convenience sampling method. They were randomly categorized into experimental and control groups. Participants in the experimental group received Memory Specificity Training in 90 minutes sessions for 6 weeks. Patients were interviewed by a semi-structured clinical interview and filled out Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) and Adherence Questionnaire. Data were analyzed by mixed variance analysis and SPSS-24.

Significant higher and lower scores were found respectively for adaptive emotion regulation strategies and maladaptive strategies in the Memory Specificity Training group compared to the control group.  A significant difference was also observed in adherence scores. Significant indices of Group Main Effect (F=13.85, p<0.01, Ƞ2=0.251), Time Main Effect (F=274.22, p<0.01, Ƞ2=0.825), and Interaction Main Effect (F=283.21, p<0.01, Ƞ2=0.830) were found.

Memory Specificity Training leads to improving emotion regulation strategies and increasing adherence in cancer patients.