The effectiveness of group counseling in acceptance and commitment therapy on pain perception and death anxiety in women with breast cancer

The purpose of this research was to determine the effectiveness of group counseling in the form of acceptance and commitment therapy on the perception of pain and death anxiety in women with breast cancer. The method of this research was a semi-experimental research with a pre-test-post-test design and a control group with a follow-up period (2 months). The statistical population included all married women with breast cancer who were referred to the specialized and sub-specialized centers of Tehran hospitals in 2019. The research sample consisted of 40 of these women who were selected using the accessible method and randomly replaced in two groups of 20 people. Then, they were randomly replaced into two experimental and control groups (20 people in each group). The experimental group received acceptance and commitment therapy counseling during 8 and 90-minute sessions. The data were collected using the Pain Perception Questionnaire (Melzak, 1975) (MGPQ), and Galt-Lester Death Anxiety Questionnaire (1969) (CL-FODS). The research data were analyzed by mixed variance analysis (with repeated measurements). The results showed that group counseling based on the perception of pain and death anxiety was effective (P<0.05). It can be concluded that this intervention was able to reduce the perception of pain and death anxiety to a great extent, and therefore can be used in the treatment of cancer patients. The breast should be used.