Narrative Therapy and Hope in Breast Cancer Patients

Abstract

Background: Narrative therapy is one of the most important ways of improving the quality of life and mental health by increasing women's hope in breast cancer. These patients often think that they have many problems, especially with hopelessness, body image, sexuality, and helplessness. It is effective for improving mental and physical health as an effective way of changing behavior. Aim: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of narrative therapy on increasing level of hope in breast cancer patients that was present at the Breast Cancer Research Center of Iran in 2017. Methods: We conducted a clinical pretest and posttest study, with two experimental groups. All of the participants had already received their primary treatments. They response, Hert Hope Index (HHI). Twenty-six patients had individual therapy, 24 patients in 5 groups were treated with group therapy. We had 8 sessions weekly which lasted 100-120 minutes. Narrative therapy was done for two groups. Both groups were reassessed to monitor the changes in hope (posttest) and reported. Results: According to the demographic characteristics of the participants, the mean age in the individual and group therapy was 47 (± 9) and 51 (± 8) respectively. Data analysis showed that according to their marital status ( P = 0.56), occupation ( P = 0.71), education ( P = 0.96), was not statistically significant difference. The hope scores in the individual therapy before and after the treatment were 32 (± 6) and 21.04 (± 5), respectively. And group therapy 29 (± 6) and 27 (± 4) respectively. These results showed that increasing of hope during the study in group therapy ( P < 0.0001), the difference between the two groups (α = 95%, P < 0.001). On the other hand, these results showed, there wasn't significant difference between the hope levels before and after intervention in the individual group ( P < 0.025). Conclusion: This study showed that, the effects of narrative treatment with group therapy on the increasing hope level in breast cancer patients. It suggests that narration can be a psychological recovery of cancer survivors in group therapy and promotion their quality of life.