The Effect of self-control on emotional well-being with the mediating role of self-compassion and emotion regulation in cancer patients

Cancer affects various aspects of a patient's quality of life, including mental, psychological, social, and economic status. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect self-control on emotional well-being due to the mediating role of self-compassion and emotion regulation in cancer patients. The method of this research is descriptive and the correlational research design is structural equation modeling. The statistical population in this study included cancer patients in 1399 that were selected by purposive sampling. The sample consisted of 200 (male and female) cancer patients in Emam Hosein hospital in Tehran. To collect data from the Self-Control scale (Tangney et al, 2004), self-compassion scale-short form (Raes et al, 2011), the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Gross and John, 2003), and the emotional Well-Being Scale (Keys & Magyar-Moe, 2003) was used. All analyzes were performed using SPSS26 and AMOS24 software. Bootstrap method was used to analyze the intermediate relationships in MACRO Preacher and Hayes (2008). The results showed that self-control has a direct and significant effect on emotional well-being (p<0/008). Also, the direct effect of self-control on self-compassion was significant (p<0/001), but the direct effect of self-control on emotion regulation was not significant (p> 0/05). The indirect effect of self-control on emotional well-being due to self-compassion was significant (p<0/001), but the indirect effect of self-control on emotional well-being wasnot significant due to emotion regulation (p> 0/05).The results of the research have practical implications for health professionals and psychologists and it can be concluded that self-control through self-compassion has an effect on the emotional well-being of cancer patients.