The Effect of Spiritual Therapy on the Fear of Illness Recurrence and Illness Perception of Women with Breast Cancer
akhlāq-i pizishkī i.e., Medical Ethics,
Vol. 16 No. 47 (1401),
28 Tir 2022
,
Page 1-16
https://doi.org/10.22037/mej.v16i47.38827
Abstract
Background and Aim: Although fear of illness recurrence and negative illness perceptions can significantly undermine the quality of life of cancer survivors and increase their physical and psychological fatigue as well as anxiety and depression, few studies have introduced effective treatments for adjusting the perceptual-psychological factors involved in breast cancer. While, spirituality is an important factor for adapting to stressful conditions caused by chronic diseases, ensuring physical and psychological health as well as hope of patients and consequently improving the health condition of patients. The present study was an attempt to investigate the effect of spiritual therapy on the fear of illness recurrence and negative illness perception among women with breast cancer.
Methods: The present research falls within the category of semi-experimental studies with a pre-test, post-test control group design and two-month follow-up. Population of the study consisted female breast cancer patients subjected to chemotherapy who referred to the specialized and subspecialized breast pathology center of Jihad In Iran during winter of 2021. 30 patients were selected through convenient sampling and randomly assigned to two groups: intervention and control groups (n=15). The fear of cancer recurrence and the perception of the illness were measured using the Simard & Savard’s FCR Inventory and Broadbent’s IPQ before, after and two months after the intervention, respectively. The intervention group received spiritual-religious psychotherapy for 12 sessions (each 120 minutes) individually, but the control group did not receive any intervention. Data analysis was done using repeated measure ANOVA and Bonferroni's post hoc test (α=0.05) within the framework of SPSS 24 software.
Ethical Considerations: After obtaining the code of ethics, the researcher went to the research sites and obtained the written informed consent of patients by introducing the objectives and nature of the research as well as the implementation and intervention techniques.
Results: The results suggest that spiritual therapy has a significant effect on mitigation of the fear of cancer recurrence and improvements in the illness perception of women with breast cancer (p<0.001). The mean difference between pre-test, post-test and follow-up was significant in both mentioned variables (p<0.001), however, the mean difference of post-test and follow-up stages in terms of fear of cancer recurrence and illness perception was not significant (p>0.05).
Conclusion: According to the findings, spiritual therapy has a lasting effect on mitigation of the fear of cancer recurrence and improvements in illness perception of women with breast cancer. Thus, health professionals can effectively apply this treatment method to female breast cancer patients with fear of illness recurrence or a negative illness perception to help them improve their physical and psychological health.
Please cite this article as:
Mato S, Saffarinia M, Alipour A. The Effect of Spiritual Therapy on the Fear of Illness Recurrence and Illness Perception of Women with Breast Cancer. Faṣlnāmah-i akhlāq-i pizishkī, i.e., Quarterly Journal of Medical Ethics. 2022; 16(47): e7.
- Spiritual Therapies; Fear of Cancre Recurrence; Illness Perception; Breast Neoplasms
How to Cite
References
Taşhan ST, Derya YA, Uçar T, Nacar G, Erci B. Theory-based training to promote breast cancer screening among women with breast cancer worries: Randomized controlled trial. Sao Paulo Med J. 2020; 138(2): 158-166.
Chin JH, Mansori SH. Theory of Planned Behaviour and Health Belief Model: Females’ intention on breast cancer screening. Cogent Psychology. 2019; 6(1): 1-12.
Sung H, Ferlay J, Siegel RL, Laversanne M, Soerjomataram I, Jemal A, et al. Global cancer statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 2021; 71(3): 209-249.
Shakery M, Mehrabi M, Khademian Z. The effect of a smartphone application on women’s performance and health beliefs about breast self-examination: A quasi-experimental study. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2021; 21(248): 1-10.
Cho YU, Lee BG, Kim SH. Coping style at diagnosis and its association with subsequent health-related quality of life in women with breast cancer: A 3-year follow-up study. European Journal of Oncology Nursing. 2020; 45(3): 1-6.
Borstelmann NA, Gray TF, Gelber S, Rosenberg S, Zheng Y, Meyer M, et al. Psychosocial issues and quality of life of parenting partners of young women with breast cancer. Support Care Cancer. 2022; 30(5): 4265-4274.
Wild CP, Stewart BW, Wild C. World cancer report 2014. Switzerland: World Health Organization Geneva; 2014.
Eun-Young B, Change I. The effect of visual feedback plus entail practice on three patients with breast cancer (woman). Clinical Rehabilitation. 2006; 20(2): 379-388.
Corradini S, Reitz D, Pazos M, Schönecker S, Braun M, Harbeck N, et al. Mastectomy or breast-conserving therapy for early breast cancer in real-life clinical practice: Outcome comparison of 7565 cases. Cancers. 2019; 11(2): 1-13.
Simard S, Savard J. Fear of Cancer Recurrence Inventory: Development and initial validation of a multidimensional measure of fear of cancer recurrence. Supportive Care in Cancer. 2009; 17(3): 241-251.
Butow PN, Bell ML, Smith AB, Fardell JE, Thewes B, Turner J, et al. Conquer fear: Protocol of a randomised controlled trial of a psychological intervention to reduce fear of cancer recurrence. BMC Cancer. 2013; 13(1): 1-10.
Koch L, Jansen L, Brenner H, Arndt V. Fear of recurrence and disease progression in long‐term (≥5 years) cancer survivors: A systematic review of quantitative studies. Psycho‐Oncology. 2013; 22(1): 1-11.
Den Oudsten BL, Skevington SM. Using the WHOQOL as a Generic Measure to Assess Quality of Life During Cancer. Handbook of Quality of Life in Cancer. New York: Springer; 2022. p.13-38.
Alighanavati S, Bahrami F, Godarzi K, Rouzbahani M. Effectiveness of compassion-based therapy on rumination and concern of women with breast cancer. Health Psychology. 2018; 7(3): 152-168. [Persian]
Zhou K, Li X, Li J, Liu M, Dang S, Wang D, et al. A clinical randomized controlled trial of music therapy and progressive muscle relaxation training in female breast cancer patients after radical mastectomy: Results on depression, anxiety and length of hospital stay. European Journal of Oncology Nursing. 2015; 19(1): 54-59.
Nasrolahi B, Torkaman SH, Darandegan K. Relationship between Depression and Psychological Well-being Perception in Women with Breast Cancer. Iranian Journal of Surgery. 2016; 24(1): 35-46. [Persian]
Morgan K, Villiers-Tuthill A, Barker M, McGee H. The contribution of illness perception to psychological distress in heart failure patients. BMC Psychology. 2014; 2(1): 1-9.
Li J, Qiu X, Yang X, Zhou J, Zhu X, Zhao E, et al. Relationship between illness perception and depressive symptoms among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in China: A mediating role of coping style. Journal of Diabetes Research. 2020; 2020: 1-6.
Sharifi Saki SH, Alipour A, AghaYousefi AR, Mohammadi MR, Ghobari Bonab B, Nikofar AR, et al. The Relationship between Attachment Style to God and Depression Among Female Breast-Cancer Patients: The Mediating Role of Illness Perception. IJBD. 2018; 11(1): 47-57. [Persian]
Bhattacharyya GS, Doval DC, Desai CJ, Chaturvedi H, Sharma S, Somashekhar S. Overview of breast cancer and implications of overtreatment of early-stage breast cancer: An Indian perspective. JCO Global Oncology. 2020; 6: 789-798.
Smith-Turchyn J, Morgan A, Richardson J. The effectiveness of group-based self-management programmes to improve physical and psychological outcomes in patients with cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Clinical Oncology. 2016; 28(5): 292-305.
Akuchekian S, Jamshidian Z, Maracy MR, Almasi A, Jazi AHD. Effectiveness of Religious-Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy on Religious Oriented Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and its Co-morbidity. Journal of Isfahan Medical School. 2011; 28(114): 1-11.
Hook JN, Worthington JR-EL, Davis DE, Jennings DJ, Gartner AL, Hook JP. Empirically supported religious and spiritual therapies. Journal of Clinical Psychology. 2010; 66(1): 46-72.
Paukert AL, Phillips LL, Cully JA, Romero C, Stanley MA. Systematic review of the effects of religion-accommodative psychotherapy for depression and anxiety. J Contemp Psychother. 2011; 41(2): 99-108.
Pargament KI, Exline JJ, Jones JW. APA handbook of psychology, religion and spirituality: Context, theory and research. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 2013. Vol.1.
Davis B. Mediators of the relationship between hope and well-being in older adults. Clinical Nursing Research. 2005; 14(3): 253-272.
Livneh H, Antonak RF. Psychosocial adaptation to chronic illness and disability: A primer for counselors. Journal of Counseling & Development. 2005; 83(1): 12-20.
Mir G, Meer S, Cottrell D, McMillan D, House A, Kanter JW. Adapted behavioural activation for the treatment of depression in Muslims. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2015; 180: 190-199.
Koenig HG, Pearce MJ, Nelson B, Erkanli A. Effects on daily spiritual experiences of religious versus conventional cognitive behavioral therapy for depression. J Relig Health. 2016; 55(5): 1763-1777.
Sephton SE, Koopman C, Schaal M, Thoresen C, Spiegel D. Spiritual expression and immune status in women with metastatic breast cancer: An exploratory study. The Breast Journal. 2002; 7(5): 345-353.
Vonarx N, Hyppolite SR. Religion, spirituality and cancer: The question of individual empowerment. Integrative Cancer Therapies. 2012; 12(1): 69-80.
Pallant J. SPSS survival manual: A step by step guide to data analysis using IBM SPSS. London: Routledge; 2020.
Richards PS, Bergin AE. Casebook for a spiritual strategy in counseling and psychotherapy. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 2004.
Kiarasi Z, Emadian SO, Fakhri MK. Effectiveness of Logotherapy on Fear of disease progression, Death Anxiety of cancer in Women with Breast Cancer. IJCA. 2021; 2(1): 3-10. [Persian]
Broadbent E, Petrie KJ, Main J, Weinman J. The brief illness perception questionnaire. Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 2006; 60(6): 631-637.
Bagherian-Sararoudi R, Bahrami EH, Sanei H. Relationship between history of myocardial infraction and cognitive representation of myocardial infraction. Research in Psychological Health. 2008; 2(2): 29-39. [Persian]
Toledo G, Ochoa CY, Farias AJ. Religion and spirituality: Their role in the psychosocial adjustment to breast cancer and subsequent symptom management of adjuvant endocrine therapy. Support Care Cancer. 2021; 29: 3017-3024.
Komariah M, Hatthakit U, Boonyoung N. Impact of Islam-based caring intervention on spiritual well-being in Muslim women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Religions. 2020; 11(7): 1-13.
Poorakbaran E, Mohammadi GhareGhozlou R, Mosavi SMR. Evaluate the effectiveness of therapy on cognitive emotion regulation spirituality in women with breast cancer. Medical Journal of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. 2018; 61(4): 1122-1136. [Persian]
Vallurupalli MM, Lauderdale MK, Balboni MJ, Phelps AC, Block SD, Ng AK, et al. The role of spirituality and religious coping in the quality of life of patients with advanced cancer receiving palliative radiation therapy. J Support Oncol. 2012; 10(2): 81-87.
Simoni JM, Martone MG, Kerwin JF. Spirituality and psychological adaptation among women with HIV/AIDS: Implications for counseling. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 2002; 49(2): 139-147.
Jamshidifar Z, Lotfi Kashani F. Comparison of the effectiveness of spiritual therapy and cognitive-behavior therapy on lowering blood cortisol levels in women with breast cancer. Thoughts and Behavior in Clinical Psychology. 2020; 15(55): 37-46. [Persian]
Lotfi Kashani F, Vaziri S, Zine El Abidine SN, Zine El Abidine SN. Effectiveness of group hope therapy on decreasing psychological distress among women with breast cancer. Journal of Applied Psychology. 2014; 7(4): 45-58. [Persian]
Mohammadizadeh S, Khalatbari J, Ahadi H, Hatami HR. Comparison of the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment-based therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy and spiritual therapy on perceived stress, body image and the quality of life of women with breast cancer. Thoughts and Behavior in Clinical Psychology. 2020; 15(55): 7-16. [Persian]
Akbari ME, Lotfi Kashani F, Ahangari GH, Pornour M, Hejazi H, Nooshinfar E, et al. The effects of spiritual intervention and changes in dopamine receptor gene expression in breast cancer patients. Breast Cancer. 2016; 23(6): 893-900.
Radfar F, Nejati V, Fathabadi J. The impact of cognitive rehabilitation on working memory and verbal fluency in dyslexic students (a single case study). Thoughts and Behavior in Clinical Psychology. 2016; 11(40): 17-26. [Persian]
- Abstract Viewed: 654 times