Effectiveness of Group Meaning Therapy Intervention on Quality of Life, Emotion Regulation and Life Expectancy of Women with Breast Cancer

Breast cancer causes psychological problems and decreases psychological health in people, therapeutic interventions are needed to solve these problems. This research was conducted to determine the effectiveness of group meaning therapy intervention on the quality of life, emotional regulation, and life expectancy of women with breast cancer.

The research method was semi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population included all women with breast cancer referring to the health centers of Kerman city in 2023. Among them, 30 people were selected by the available sampling method and were replaced randomly and by lottery in two experimental and control groups (15 individuals in the experimental group and 15 in the control group). The people in the experimental group received group-meaning therapy intervention (10 sessions) and two sessions weekly for 90 minutes. The questionnaires used in this research included quality of life, emotion regulation, and life expectancy questionnaires administered in two phases: pre-test and post-test.

The results showed that before the intervention, there was no significant difference between the average scores of the quality of life, emotion regulation, and life expectancy of the intervention and control groups, but there was a statistically significant difference between the average scores of the intervention and control groups after the intervention. The mean and standard deviation of the quality of life in the post-test was 6.91 ± 29.75, emotion regulation was 10.25 ± 98.28, and life expectancy was 6.49 ± 39.51 (P < 0.001).

According to the results of this research, group therapy increased the quality of life, emotion regulation, and life expectancy in women with cancer. Since the favorable mental state of the patient affects their recovery, the use of this method is recommended as an effective strategy to reduce the psychological problems of patients.