Middle East Journal of Cancer (Oct 2012)
Life Skills Training Effectiveness on Non- Metastatic Breast Cancer Mental Health: A Clinical Trial
Abstract
Background: Patients with breast cancer are predisposed to some psychiatric symptoms and mental disorders as a result of their diagnosis or lifestyle. These problems cause patients to have daily stress, feelings of guilt, anxiety, a dysphoric mood, and impaired social relations. Such problems will lead to serious mental disorders.Therefore, life skills training may enable patients to cope better with these problems and improve their mental health.Methods: In an experimental study 50 breast cancer patients were randomly selected and assigned to two groups, experimental and control. The experimental group attended life skills training classes continuously for ten weeks. The duration of each class was two hours. Participants in both groups completed a General Health Questionnaire-28 form before the commencement of classes, after two weeks of training, and again at two months after course completion. The statistical method used in this study was the t-test.Results: In the life skills training group, patients' depressive and anxiety symptoms, somatization disorders, sleep disorders, and disorders of social functioning significantly decreased (P<0.0001). There was no change in the control group.Conclusion: The results show that life skills training can be considered a supportive method for symptoms of depression, anxiety, sleep, and somatic disorders in patients with breast cancer.
