Effectiveness of psychodrama on changing metacognitive beliefs and emotional schemas in women with breast cancer

Abstract

The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of psychodrama on changing metacognitive beliefs and emotional schemas in women with breast cancer. The research design was a quasi-experimental study with a control group pretest-posttest design. The statistical population included patients with breast cancer who were under therapy in Mazandaran province, among whom 50 patients with inclusion criteria were selected by available sampling and randomly assigned to control and intervention groups: 25 people in the control group and 25 ones in the experimental group. In this method, covariance was used to control the disturbing variables and determine the effectiveness of the therapy. In addition, 50 people were selected voluntarily to choose samples from the study population who were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The research instruments consisted of Leahy Emotional Schema Scale (LESS) and the Metacognitive Cognition Questionnaire (MCQ-30). The drama therapy protocol was performed in 16 sessions. The collected data were analyzed by covariance test. Examining the analysis results indicated that the difference between the experimental and control groups in the metacognitive beliefs variables and emotional schemas is significant. As found, psychodrama changes metacognitive beliefs in individuals through reinterpreting new phenomena and attitudes.