The Effectiveness of Spiritual Therapy on Resilience, Treatment Adherence, and Coping Styles in Women with Breast Cancer

Subject Areas : women health

Farshad Samadi ¹ , asharafalsadat giti gitighoreishi ² , Malek Mirhashemi ³

1 - PhD student in Health Psychology, Roudehen Branch, Islamic Azad University, Roudehen, Iran, [e-mail]
2 - (Corresponding Author), Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Roudehen Branch, Islamic Azad University, Roudehen, Iran, Email: [e-mail], Tell: 09123197563
3 - - Professor, Department of Psychology, Roudehen Branch, Islamic Azad University, Roudehen, Iran, [e-mail]

Received: 2025-04-21 Accepted : 2025-08-24 Published : 2025-09-11

Keywords: Spiritual Therapy, Resilience, Treatment Adherence, Coping Styles, Breast Cancer,

Abstract :

© 2020 The Author(s). This work is published by family and health as an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted, provided the original work is properly cited.

 

Background and Aim: Breast cancer is one of the most common chronic diseases among women, associated with significant psychological consequences such as reduced resilience, low treatment adherence, and the use of maladaptive coping styles. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of spiritual therapy on resilience, treatment adherence, and coping styles in women with breast cancer.

Methods: This study employed a quasi-experimental design with a pretest–posttest and control group. The statistical population consisted of women with breast cancer referred to Imam Ali Hospital, Bojnourd, in 2024. A total of 30 patients were purposefully selected and randomly assigned to either the spiritual therapy group (n=15) or the control group (n=15). The experimental group received a spiritual therapy intervention over 12 sessions, each lasting 90 minutes. Data collection instruments included the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale, the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale, and the Endler & Parker Coping Styles Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA).

Results: The findings showed that spiritual therapy significantly increased resilience, improved treatment adherence, and enhanced adaptive coping styles compared with the control group (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Spiritual therapy can be considered an effective psychological intervention to promote coping capacities and psychological adjustment in women with breast cancer

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