Validation of the Native Model of Logotherapy in Patients with Breast Cancer

Stress and social isolation can lead to the progression of the disease or the recurrence of cancer, in this regard, the need for stress management and mental relaxation in these people is essential. One of the ways to create peace in humans is to have meaning in life, and logotherapy education can play an effective role in achieving this goal. Today, logotherapy education is done in different ways for different target communities in the world, and the lack of a native Iranian model of logotherapy is considered one of our existing educational deficiencies. This study aims to validate a Iranian model of logotherapy for breast cancer patients.
 

This descriptive-survey study was conducted based on the results of  Neamati's Ph.D thesis (29) on the lived experience of cancer patients. This model include 4 main themes (individual and social development, transcendental suffering, positive psychological abilities, and the angel of death) and 16 sub-themes.The statistical population of this study included all psychologists in 1400, and 120 psychologists were selected by convenience sampling method. The data obtained from the survey of the psychologists were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and Amos22 software.

The findings of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the factor loads related to the relationship between the main theme and its sub-themes, in response to questions about patients' perceptions of the meaning of life, patients' perceptions of cancer, patients' perceptions of cancer strategies and its complications, and patients' perception of the meaning of death are in a favorable condition (0.6 to 0.7). Also, the explained variance of all sub-themes was higher than 25%.

The native model of logotherapy for breast cancer patients has a good fit. It is suggested that the logotherapy-based  model be implemented in cancer treatment centers and counseling and psychological centers for these patients.