THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL GROUP THERAPY ON REDUCTION OF DEPRESSION SYMPTOMS AMONG PATIENTS WITH CANCER

Many methods have been established for the treatments of depression among cancer patients depending on its etiology، and cognitive therapy is one of them. This research aimed to investigate the effectiveness of group cognitive-behavioral therapy on decreasing depression level of patients with cancer. This pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study was conducted on 20 cancer patients that were selected by available sampling method and were randomly divided into two experimental and one control groups. The measurement tool was Beck Depression Inventory (BPI-II). The experimental group participated in 12 sessions of cognitive therapy، while the control group did not receive any treatment. The mean scores of the two groups were compared through analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The results of the study showed the significant differences between the mean scores of the pre-test and post-test of the experimental and control groups; cognitive group therapy had reduced the depression mean score in the experimental group. The findings of the study indicate that cognitive group therapy can reduce the depression among cancer patients. Therefore، it is an effective method for encountering and coping with negative life events or prevent depression among cancer patients.