Effect of cognitive behavioral therapy on subjective well-being of patients with cardiovascular diseases

Abstract

Background: The cardiovascular diseases are as a chronic diseases. can naturally decrease the patients' mental health. Subjective well-being is one of the main components of life quality whose existence is essential for having a happy life and mental health. The present study was carried out to investigate the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy in the subjective well-being of the patients with cardiovascular diseases. Methods: Among all patients with cardiovascular diseases who had been admitted in Imam Ali Hospital of Kermanshah in May and June, 2013, 32 patients were selected through voluntary sampling and randomly divided into control and experimental groups.The intervention consisted of 10 weekly sessions (each session for 1.5 hours) of cognitive behavioral therapy for the experimental group while the control group received the routine medical care. For data collection, the life satisfaction tools (Diner 1985) and positive and negative affect schedule (Watson 1988) were used. The results were analyzed by the statistical test of covariance analysis. Results: The results showed a significant increase in life satisfaction and positive affect for the experimental group compared to the control group (P<0.05) and a significant decrease in negative affect (P<0.05). Conclusion: The Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) increased the subjective well-being of the patients with cardiovascular diseases.