The Effectiveness of Cognitive-Existential Group Therapy on Increasing Hope and Decreasing Depression in Women-Treated with Haemodialysis

INTRODUCTION Hopefulness is one of the most significant predictors of adaptation in hemodialysis patients, and plays a vital role in the recovery process. In contrast to hopefulness, depression is a frequent psychological reaction of the hemodialysis treatment with many negative consequences. The current research was designed to examine the effect of cognitive-existential treatment on the level of hopefulness and depression in hemodialysis patients. MATERIALS & METHODS This quasi-experimental research included 22 female patients suffering from chronic kidney failure disease undergoing hemodialysis treatment for at least 3 months. The patients were randomly assigned into two groups of experimental and control conditions. The experimental group received a combination of treatment including some elements of "existentialism" philosophy and a "cognitive" approach designed for the Iranian population. The treatment protocol lasted for 12 sessions of 90 minutes twice per week prior to the entry of the patient to the dialysis session.  Miller's hope scale and BDI-II-21 were employed to collect the data. Statistical analysis was performed on the data using analysis of covariance by SPSS: 16 software. RESULTS The result of the analysis indicated that there was a significant improvement in hopefulness level and decrease in depression of the patients in the experiment condition (P<0.01). CONCLUSION The result of analysis showed that cognitive-existential treatment resulted in the increase of hopefulness and decrease level of depression in the hemodialysis patients suffering from chronic kidney failure.