Comparison of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Spiritual Therapy in Reducing Fear of Relapse among Patients with Breast Cancer

Among different types of cancers, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women that causes many physical and psychological problems among patients. The objective of this study was to compare the effect of acceptance and commitment therapy and spiritual therapy on reducing the fear of relapse among women with breast cancer.

This study was quasi-experimental with pre-test and post-test and control group. Participants included 45women with breast cancer who were referred to the cancer treatment clinic in February 2019, who were selected by convenience sampling method and were divided into three groups based on acceptance and commitment, spiritual therapy and control group (15 people each). The first experimental group underwent acceptance and commitment therapy in eight 90-minute sessions per week. The second experimental group, under spiritual therapy. Participated in nine 90-minute sessions per week. The control group did not receive any intervention. The instrument used in this study was a shortened 12-item fear of recurrence questionnaire. Data were analyzed using univariate analysis of covariancevia SPSS software version 22.

In the acceptance and commitment therapy group, the mean (SD) score of fear of relapse decreased from 40.2 (9.2) in the pre-test to 36.4 (9.3) in the post-test, P<0.001. In the spiritual therapy group, the mean (SD) score of fear of relapse decreased from 41.2 (12.5) in the pre-test to 39.1 (12.6) in the post-test, P<0.001. However, in the control group, the mean (SD) score of fear of disease recurrence decreased from 37.7 (9.8) in the pre-test to 38.1 (10.2) in the post-test, but this difference was not statistically significant.

The study showed that acceptance and commitment therapy and spirituality therapy both reduced the fear of relapse in women with breast cancer; however, the effect of acceptance and commitment therapy was greater than spiritual therapy.