The Effectiveness of Spiritual Group Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Increasing Life Expectancy and Quality of Life Among Cancer Patients

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Improving or reducing the stress caused by cancer in patients is possible with different psychological approaches. Therefore, we compared the effectiveness of spiritual therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy on life expectancy (LE) and quality of life (QoL) of cancer patients. Methods: This quasi-experimental study with the pre-test and post-test and follow-up design and a control group was conducted in 2020, in which we randomly selected 45 cancer patients admitted to the Taleghani Hospital in Kermanshah Province who were divided into three groups: spiritual therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and control groups. After the treatment, we compared the three groups’ scores on the QoL questionnaire and LE questionnaire by Schneider by SPSS software, version 20 and analysis of covariance. Results: The mean age of patients was 28±14 years. A family history of cancer was observed in 14% of patients. There were no significant differences in the pre-test (17.04±2.35) and post-test (18.19±2.11) scores of LE in the control group. The results of the analysis of covariance showed a significant difference (P<0.01) between the post-test scores of QoL and LE in the treatment groups compared to the control group. Conclusion: Both types of treatments were effective in patients and increased their QoL and LE. However, spiritual therapy had a greater effect on the QoL and LE among cancer patients compared to acceptance and commitment therapy

Keywords

• cancer
• acceptance and commitment therapy
• spirituality therapy
• quality of life
• life expectancy