The Effects of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on the Lifestyle of Breast Cancer Patients

Patients with breast neoplasms are exposed to various physical and psychological injuries. Improving these patients’ lifestyles can improve their condition. The present research investigated the effects of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) on the lifestyle of breast cancer patients.

The current semi-experimental study was conducted with a pretest-posttest design and a control group. The statistical population comprised 308 breast cancer patients referred to the Teaching Hospital of Maternity and Childhood in Al-Ramadi, Iraq, in 2022. Using simple random sampling, 80 women were selected and divided into experimental and control groups (40 patients per group). The Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP; Walker et al., 1987) was used for data collection. The collected data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS software. The statistical significance level was 0.05.

The findings indicate that CBT was effective on lifestyle variables (F = 70.01; P < 0.001) in breast cancer patients. Moreover, the results of a one-way ANCOVA demonstrated that the lifestyle subscales, including health responsibility (F = 4.73; P < 0.001), nutrition (F = 9.14; P < 0.001), physical activity (F = 13.64; P < 0.001), stress management (F = 7.05; P < 0.001), interpersonal relationships (F = 12.42; P < 0.001), and spiritual growth (F = 5.63; P < 0.001), increased significantly.

It can be concluded that CBT improved lifestyle and its subscales in breast cancer patients. Therefore, special attention should be paid to these patients' lifestyles, and psychological interventions such as CBT can be effective in this regard.