Comparing the Effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Therapy and Compassion-Focused Therapy on the Belief in a Fair-Unfair World and Care Pressure in Caregivers of Cancer Patients

Tourani, Faezeh; Aghaee, Hakimeh; Nouhi, Shahnaz; Tabatabaee, Seyed Mosa

Volume 14 - Articles-1403 MEJDS (2024) 14: 97 | Back to browse issues page

Ethics code: IR.IAU.SHAHROOD.REC.1402.006

Mendeley

Zotero

RefWorks

Tourani F, Aghaee H, Nouhi S, Tabatabaee S M. Comparing the Effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Therapy and Compassion-Focused Therapy on the Belief in a Fair-Unfair World and Care Pressure in Caregivers of Cancer Patients. MEJDS 2024; 14 :97-97
URL: http://jdisabilstud.org/article-1-3433-en.html

Comparing the Effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Therapy and Compassion-Focused Therapy on the Belief in a Fair-Unfair World and Care Pressure in Caregivers of Cancer Patients

Faezeh Tourani¹

, Hakimeh Aghaee ^*²

, Shahnaz Nouhi²

, Seyed Mosa Tabatabaee³

1- PhD Student in Psychology, Shahrood Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrood, Iran
2- Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Shahrood Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrood, Iran
3- Assistant Professor, Department of Cognitive Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran

Abstract: (632 Views)

Abstract
Background & Objectives: Cancer is the uncontrolled and proliferative growth of abnormal cells that causes the formation of tumors. This disease affects caregivers' physical and mental health at the family level. Because the financial and emotional resources of family caregivers of cancer patients are probably depleted and they experience a lot of pressure, health psychologists can provide important support to family members and caregivers of cancer patients to improve their psychological status. Also, most studies have focused on the impact of cancer on the living conditions of the sufferers, and fewer studies have focused on the caregivers of the patients. Therefore, it is necessary to deal more seriously with the adverse psychological consequences of this disease on caregivers and to use effective non–pharmacological solutions to improve the mental health of these caregivers. The present study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of emotion–focused and compassion–focused therapy on the "belief in a fair–unfair world" and caregiving pressure in caregivers of cancer patients.
Methods: The present research method was quasi–experimental with a pretest–posttest and a three–month follow–up design with a control group. The study's statistical population was all caregivers of cancer patients admitted to Imam Hossein and Bahar hospitals in Shahrood City, Iran, in 2022. A total of 45 people were selected by the available sampling method and randomly placed in 3 groups: experiment 1 (emotion–focused therapy), experiment 2 (compassion–based therapy), and a control group (15 people in each group). Experiment group one underwent 10 sessions of 60–minute emotion–focused therapy two days a week. The experimental group two underwent 10 sessions of 60–minute therapy focused on compassion by a trained therapist who was a doctoral student in psychology in the hospital chapel. The control group did not receive any intervention. Participants completed the Belief in a Fair–Unfair World Questionnaire (Sutton & Douglas, 2005) and the Care Pressure Questionnaire (Novak & Guest, 1989) in three stages: before the intervention (pretest), after the intervention (posttest), and 3 months after the intervention (follow–up). Also, the structure of the sessions was taken from the book Compassion–Focused Therapy by Gilbert et al. (2011), and the emotion–focused therapy sessions were adapted from Greenberg's emotion–focused therapy intervention program (2017). The research data analysis was done with the help of variance analysis with repeated measurement and the Bonferroni post hoc test in SPSS software version 24 at a significance level of 0.05.
Results: The results showed significant effects of time, group, and time* group interaction on the variables of belief in a fair–unfair world and care pressure (p<0.001). In the variables of belief in a fair–unfair world and care pressure, there was no significant difference between the research groups in the pretest (p>0.05). However, in all three variables, a significant difference was seen between the emotion–focused therapy and compassion–focused therapy groups and the control group in the posttest (p<0.05). Also, in all three variables, there was a significant difference between the emotion–oriented therapy and compassion–based therapy groups according to the mean scores in the posttest and follow–up (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Based on the results, emotion–focused therapy is more effective than compassion–focused therapy. As a result, emotion–focused therapy can be used to improve the belief in a fair–unfair world and reduce caregiving pressure on caregivers of cancer patients.

Keywords: Emotion–focused therapy, Compassion–focused therapy, Belief in a just world, Care pressure

Full-Text [PDF 311 kb] (328 Downloads)

Type of Study: Original Research Article | Subject: Psychology

References

1. Dreyer SB, Upstill-Goddard R, Paulus-Hock V, Paris C, Lampraki EM, Dray E, et al. Targeting DNA damage response and replication stress in pancreatic cancer. Gastroenterology. 2021;160(1):362–77. [DOI]

2. Basharpoor S, Amani S, Narimani M. The effectiveness of narrative exposure therapy on improving posttraumatic symptoms and interpersonal reactivity in patients with cancer. Journal of Rehabilitation. 2019;20(3):230–41. [Persian] [DOI]

3. Hassan Zadeh M, Vasli P, Estebsari F, Nasiri M. The relationship of the perception of family-centered care, burden of care and self-efficacy in the mothers of children with chronic illness. Hayat. 2019;25(4):429–43. [Persian] [Article]

4. Biabani A, Kermansaravi F, Navidian A, Yaghoubinia F. An investigation into the relationship between care burden and adaptive behaviors of mothers of children with thalassemia. Sci J Iran Blood Transfus Organ. 2020;17(1):47–56. [Persian] [Article]

5. Alvandi H, Sedigh H. Prediction of social well-being and social trust through belief in a just world in the people referring to counseling centers. Social Psychology Research. 2020;10(37):1–12. [Persian] [Article]

6. Linhares LV, Torres ARR, Pereira CR. Live by the sword, die by the sword: measuring belief in a just world with popular sayings. Pers Individ Dif. 2022;195:111673. [DOI]

7. Alizadeh S, Mahdavi HS, Pourshahriari M. The effectiveness of cognitive self-compassion training on social attitudes towards the singlehood and belief in a just world in single girls. Psychological Studies. 2021;17(4):121–40. [Persian] [Article]

8. Schuurmans-Stekhoven JB. Just world beliefs mediate the well-being effects of spiritual/afterlife beliefs among older Australians. Journal of Religion, Spirituality & Aging. 2021;33(3):332–49. [DOI]

9. Cha C, Jeong J, Kim HK, Nam SJ, Seong MK, Woo J, et al. Survival benefit from axillary surgery in patients aged 70 years or older with clinically node-negative breast cancer: a population-based propensity-score matched analysis. Eur J Surg Oncol. 2022;48(12):2385–92. [DOI]

10. Menon N, Patil VM, Ramaswamy A, Gattani S, Castelino R, Dhekale R, et al. Caregiver burden in older Indian patients with cancer- experience from a tertiary care center. Eur J Surg Oncol. 2022;13(7):970–7. [DOI]

11. Morgan SP, Lengacher CA, Rodriguez CS. Caregiver burden in caregivers of patients with advanced stage cancer: a concept analysis. Eur J Oncol Nurs. 2022;60:102152. [DOI]

12. Taherkhani M, Mohammadi F, Rashvand F, Motalebi SA. Predictors of perceived caregiving burden among caregivers of elderly dialysis patients. Salmand. 2022;16(4):482–97. [Persian] [DOI]

13. Sanagavi Moharrar G, Shirazi M, Mohammadi R, Maghsoodloo F. Effectiveness of emotional therapy on reducing anxiety and depression in patients with multiple sclerosis. Journal of Mashad University of Medical Sciences. 2019;61(1):190–200. [Persian] [Article]

14. Elliott R, Macdonald J. Relational dialogue in emotion‐focused therapy. J Clin Psychol. 2021;77(2):414–28. [DOI]

15. Coccaro EF, Drossos T, Kline D, Lazarus S, Joseph JJ, De Groot M. Diabetes distress, emotional regulation, HbA1c in people with diabetes and A controlled pilot study of an emotion-focused behavioral therapy intervention in adults with type 2 diabetes. Prim Care Diabetes. 2022;16(3):381–6. [DOI]

16. Rahimi F, Fakhri M. The effectiveness of emotion regulation training on readiness for boredom, belief in a just world and brain-behavioral systems in adolescents with a tendency towards risky behavior. Applied Research in Behavioral Sciences. 2022;14(54):30–49. [Persian] [DOI]

17. Mahmoodi H, Karbalaee Bagheri Z. Effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on a sense of hope and belief to the just world in patients with breast cancer. Journal of Health Psychology. 2020;9(34):155–70. [Persian] [Article]

18. Feros DL, Lane L, Ciarrochi J, Blackledge JT. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for improving the lives of cancer patients: a preliminary study. Psycho-Oncology. 2013;22(2):459–64. [DOI]

19. Shahbazi N, Barabadi H, Heydarnia A. The effectiveness of hold me tight program on caregiver burden of men whose wives suffer from breast cancer. Applied Counseling. 2023;12(2):113–28. [Persian] [Article]

20. Tabibzadeh F, Soleimani E, Shiroudi S. The effectiveness of compassion-focused therapy on cancer fatigue and self-care behaviors of cancer patients. Rooyesh-e-Ravanshenasi Journal. 2020;9(12):75–84. [Persian] [Article]

21. Aboutalebi H, Yazdchi N, Smkhani Akbarinejhad H. Effectiveness of compassion-focused therapy on death anxiety and quality of life among women with multiple sclerosis. Quarterly Journal of Medical Sciences. 2022;32(1):92–101. [Persian] [Article]

22. Rostampour M, Abbasi Gh, Mirzaeian B. Comparing the effectiveness of compassion-based therapy and positive-oriented psychotherapy on caregiving pressure and emotional failure of mothers with intellectually disabled children. Paya Shahr Journal. 2023;5(58):54–66. [Persian]

23. Shafiezadeh A, Heravi-Karimoo M, Rejeh N, Sharif Nia H, Montazeri A. Translation and primarily validation of the Persian Version of Caregiver Burden Inventory. Payesh. 2019;18(4):405–14. [Persian] [Article]

24. Ghane G, Ashghali Farahani M, Seyedfatemi N, Haghani H. Effectiveness of supportive educative program on the burden in family caregivers of hemodialysis patients. The J Urmia Nurs Midwifery Fac. 2017;14(10):885–95. [Persian] [Article]

25. Gabriel IO, Mayers PM. Effects of a psychosocial intervention on the quality of life of primary caregivers of women with breast cancer. Eur J Oncol Nurs. 2019;38:85–91. [DOI]

26. Sutton RM, Douglas KM. Justice for all, or just for me? more evidence of the importance of the self-other distinction in just-world beliefs. Pers Individ Dif. 2005;39(3):637–45. [DOI]

27. Golparvar M, Oreyzi Samani SH. Validation of questionnaires of just world beliefs for self and others. Journal of Isfahan University. 2007;4(25):193–212. [Persian]

28. Novak M, Guest C. Application of a multidimensional caregiver burden inventory. The Gerontologist. 1989;29(6):798–803. [DOI]

29. Gilbert P, McEwan K, Matos M, Rivis A. Fears of compassion: development of three self‐report measures. Psychol Psychother. 2011;84(3):239–55. [DOI]

30. Greenberg LS. Emotion-oriented therapy: principles and basics. Akbari H, Rafi T. (Persian translator). Tehran: Psychology and Art Publications; 2017. [Persian]