The Effectiveness of Problem-Solving Therapy on Anxiety in Patients with Diabetes

Abstract

Background and purpose: This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of problem-solving therapy on anxiety. Diabetes is a chronic disease with an increasing prevalence. Psychiatric problems are more common in diabetic patients than in the general population, affecting the prognosis and success of treatment. Problem-solving therapy is a short-term psychological intervention that can be used alone or with other therapeutic approaches. Methods: This case study was performed on four patients with diabetes who were selected based on available sampling. The DASS-21 questionnaire, which was answered by the subjects during three stages of pre-test, post-test, and two months after training as a follow-up, was used to collect data. First, these patients responded to the questionnaire in the baseline. Then, they were treated for problem-solving therapy for six sessions of 90 minutes and then answered again. Results: The studied data through descriptive statistics and analysis of variance with repeated measures showed that the score of individuals in the post-test stage had a significant decrease on this scale. A review of the data collected in the follow-up phase shows that problem-oriented treatment somewhat reduces anxiety and the resulting changes are relatively stable.