Efficacy of dialectical behavior therapy on perceived stress, self-efficacy and quality of life in women with breast cancer

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of dialectical behavior therapy, on perceived stress, self-efficacy, and quality of life in women with breast cancer.
The study method was quasiexperimental with pre and post test and a follow up of two months. The statistical population consisted of 120 patients recently diagnosed with cancer among 1200 patients referred to the oncology department of the diagnostic and therapeutic center of Haftom-e-Tir hospital in the year 2013 and 30 patients were chosen via accessible sampling and were divided randomly to either a control (N=15) or an experimental (N=15) group. The experimental group received eight weekly sessions of intervention, each session lasting 120 minutes. The research instruments were Cohen, Kamarck & Mermelstein's perceived stress scale (1983), the general self-efficacy scale (Scherer and Maddox, 1982) and the quality of life questionnaire published by the European Research Organization (Aaronson, 1987).
Results revealed that dialectical behavior therapy was effective in decreasing perceived stress as well as increasing self-efficacy and quality of life in women with breast cancer in the experimental group and that these effects were consistent two months after the termination of the intervention. The control group showed no significant changes at any of the three evaluation phases.
Results indicated that using dialectical behavior therapy could be useful for decreasing perceived stress and increasing self-efficacy and quality of life in breast cancer patients.