Comparison the Effectiveness of Meta-Cognitive Therapy and Compassion Therapy on the Symptoms of Cyberchondria in Nurses

Nurses are more often exposed to cyberchondria owing to their frequent contact with patients. Thus, the present study was carried out to compare the effectiveness of metacognitive and compassion therapies on the level of cyberchondria symptoms in nurses. The research utilized an experimental method involving a pre-test, post-test and follow-up design. As for the sample size, 60 nurses from hospitals in Tabriz participated in the research in 2022. Through random selection, the nurses were assigned to three groups, i.e. metacognitive therapy, compassion therapy and control group. McLurry and Shevlin’s Cyberchondria Scale (CSS) was employed for data collection. Next, the researchers carried out data analysis with the use of the mixed analysis of variance model, Tukey's and Benferroni's post hoc tests, using SPSS statistical software (version 22). A significant P value of less than 0.05 was observed. The time factor proved to have a significant impact on the amount of cyberchondria dimensions. In other words, the level of cyberchondria dimensions decreased from pre-test to follow-up. Moreover, the interaction effect of time and group also revealed that there were significant variations among the three groups (i.e. metacognitive therapy group, compassion therapy group and control group) in terms of compulsion, distress, excessiveness and reassurance. In other words, the level of cyberchondria dimensions in the intervention groups was lower than that of the control group in the post-test and the follow-up phases. Given the effectiveness of metacognitive and compassion therapies on cyberchondria symptoms, it seems that the application of metacognitive therapy and compassion therapy interventions will alleviate and treat cyberchondria symptoms in nurses.