The Effectiveness of Solution- Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) on Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Parents of Children with Cancer

During cancer treatment, parents are faced with a number of challenges that require making difficult decisions. The aim of this project was investigating effectiveness of Solution- Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) on posttraumatic stress symptoms in parents of children with cancer. Methods: The present research will be an experimental study with pretest-posttest design using control and experimental groups. The statistical population of the study includes all parents of children with cancer of Shiraz hospitals during 2016-2017. To select the statistical sample, convenient sampling method will be used. Twenty-four people will be randomly selected and they will be randomly assigned in a control (12 people), and experimental group (12 people). Instrument used in this research includes impact of events scale. Results: Investigating the significance hypothesis revealed that the difference among the two groups in co-variance analysis in terms of posttraumatic stress symptoms in the posttest was significant (F = 256.0, p = 0.0001). The two groups were different in multiple co-variance analysis in terms of subscales of posttraumatic stress symptoms (intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal) in the posttest was significant (F = 50.0, p = 0.0001 in intrusion, F = 173.0, p = 0.0001 in avoidance and F = 124.0, p = 0 .0001 in hyperarousal). Conclusion: The research findings showed that solution-focused brief therapy on posttraumatic stress symptoms was effective. The authors contend that SFBT is particularly well suited for use with cancer patients and their families because the nature of the disease is such that crises are intermittent throughout the course of the illness