THE EFFICACY OF ACCEPTANCE AND COMMITMENT THERAPY AND COUPLES COPING ENHANCEMENT TRAINING ON HEALTH ANXIETY AND HEALTH PROMOTING LIFESTYLES IN WOMEN WITH BREAST CANCER: A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Background & Aims: Breast cancer can lead to different levels of anxiety and be affected by lifestyle. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of acceptance and commitment therapy and Couples Coping Enhancement Training on Health Anxiety and Health Promoting Lifestyles in Women with Breast Cancer. Materials & Methods: This study was a quasi-experimental study with pre-test, post-test, and control groups with 3 months follow-up. The study population consisted of female patients with breast cancer who were referred to Isfahan's Seyed Alshohada Hospital in 2017. Among them, 45 volunteers were selected through Purposive sampling after checking the inclusion criteria and they were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Experimental groups were investigated for 90 minutes in 9 sessions. The data were collected using Salkovskis et al. Health Anxiety Inventory (2002) and Walker et al. Health-promoting lifestyle Inventory (1990) and data were analyzed using repeated measurements analysis. Results: The results showed that there was a significant difference in health anxiety and Health Promoting Lifestyles between experimental groups and control group (p=0.000 and p=0.002). Moreover, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy was more effective on variables such as Responsibility for health (p<0.05). Conclusion: Based on the findings, it can be concluded that interventions are effective strategies to reduce the symptoms of health anxiety and also to improve the psychological indicators of Health Promoting Lifestyles in women with breast cancer.