Investigating the Effect of Group Logotherapy on Perception on the Image of God, Locus of Control and Anxiety in Open Heart Surgery Candidates Admitted to Tehran Heart Center in 2019

Many studies have shown that imagining God is effective in internalizing the emotional control of anxiety. The present study was conducted with the aim of further investigating the effect of this variable.

In this semi-experimental study, 60 patients were selected from the patients who were candidates for heart surgery, admitted to the surgical departments (30 in the experimental group, 30 in the control group). Beck's anxiety questionnaires, God image inventory and researcher-made attributive questionnaire form C (reconstruction of Wiener scale) were used. People in the intervention group, in addition to drug treatment, with cognitive-behavioral method with emphasis on Islamic thoughts, two group discussion sessions; They received problem solving training based on spiritual skills, but the control group only received drug treatment. The data obtained from the pre-test, after the end of the training session and follow-up one month after open heart surgery, were analyzed through SPSS software.

Data analysis showed that the perception of God has a positive correlation with the locus of control (r = 0.723 **), but the locus of control has a negative correlation with the emotion score (r = -0.597). Also, the results showed that the average anxiety scores in the experimental group in the post-test and follow-up phase were significantly different from before the intervention compared to the control group (P=0.0001). Also, the analysis showed that there is a significant difference between the average scores of the control position and the average of the subscales of perception of God (influence, divine providence, acceptance, presence, challenge, benevolence) in the two experimental and control groups in the follow-up phase (P=0.0001).

Designing and implementing group logotherapy can be an effective approach to reduce anxiety before heart surgery and increase the place of internal control and subscales of perception of God.