Comparison of the Effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Sexual Self-Efficacy in Women with Breast Cancer

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is a disease that women with it are at risk of experiencing disease-related turmoil and pressures.Objective: This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of emotion-focused therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy on sexual self-efficacy in women with breast cancer. Methods: The present study was semi-experimental with pre-test, post-test, and follow-up with a control group. The statistical population of this study was all married women with breast cancer referred to Milad hospital in 2020. Forty-five patients who met the criteria for entering the study were selected as the final sample size by sampling method in non-random and available sampling and were placed in two experimental groups of one control group (each group 15 people). At this stage, all three groups responded to the sexual self-efficacy questionnaire as a pre-test, then the two experimental groups received cognitive-behavioral and emotion-focused therapy sessions and the control group waited. After completing the course, all three groups responded to the questionnaire listed as a post-test. After 4 months, the follow-up test was performed again. Data were analyzed by covariance analysis test and paired comparison of measurement stages by SPSS.22.Results: The results showed that both emotion-focused therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy were effective on sexual self-efficacy (p <0.001), but there was no difference between the two treatments on sexual self-efficacy. Conclusion: The results of this study showed the effect of emotion-focused approach therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy as supportive methods in increasing sexual self-efficacy in women with breast cancer.