The effectiveness of resilience training on anxiety, depression, stress, life expectancy and psychological well-being of women with breast cancer

Abstract

Introduction and objective: Breast cancer accounts for about one-third of all female cancers, as breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and the second leading cause of cancer-induced death among women. The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of resilience training on anxiety, depression, psychological well-being, and life expectancy of women with breast cancer in Isfahan, Iran.

Methods: The present study was an experimental research with a pretest-posttest design. The population of the present study included all women with cancer who had medical records in clinics in Isfahan. Using random sampling, 30 women were selected and assigned to two groups (15 in the experimental group and 15 in the control group). After completing the questionnaires in the pretest stage, resilience training was held in 12 one-hour sessions for the experimental group. After 12 sessions, the posttest was held in the experimental and control groups. The first instrument was the Ryff Psychological Well-being Scale-Short form with a reliability of 0.73 and the second instrument was the Snyder Life expectancy Scale with acceptable reliability and the third instrument was Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS) developed by Lovibond in 1995. The reliability was reported at 0.94 for the subscale of depression, 0.85 for anxiety, and 0.87 for stress. Data analysis was performed by analysis of covariance.

Results: Resilience training reduced anxiety symptoms (F = 44.20), depression (F = 28.73) and stress (F = 76.04) in the experimental group women in the posttest stage (P = 0.001) and increased life expectancy significantly (F = 17.18) (p = 0.001) and resilience treatment had no significant effect on the psychological well-being of women with breast cancer (p = 0.51).

Conclusion: Psychological treatments such as resilience training in hospitals and clinics can reduce the symptoms of anxiety, stress, and depression in women with breast cancer and increase their life expectancy.