Effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on posttraumatic growth, self-management and functional disability among patients with breast cancer

Background & Aim: Breast cancer is accompanied with various psychological problems and need for psychological treatment. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on posttraumatic growth, self-management and functional disability among patients with breast cancer. Methods & Materials: In a randomized controlled trial with repeated measures design, 20 women with breast cancer were selected among the patients who were referred to the Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy of Tehran Hafte Tir Martyrs hospital using convenience sampling. Participants were randomly assigned into the experimental or control groups. The experimental group received 8 sessions of intervention within two months and the control group did not receive any intervention. Both groups were followed for three months after the intervention. All participants assessed by the Demographic and Disease Characteristics Checklist, Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5, Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), Patient Activation Measure and WHO Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0. Data were analyzed with multivariate repeated measures analysis of variance using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 21.0. Results: The results showed that Time*Group interaction is significant (F=9.561, p<0.001, Eta square=0.815). In addition, both the Time and Group main effects are significant (F=4.370, p<0.012; F=10.500, p<0.001). Conclusion: Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and time of assessment have combined effects on the posttraumatic growth, self-management and function disability in patient with breast cancer. The impact of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in improving posttraumatic growth, self-management and function disability depends on the time of the measurement.