Effect of Compassion-focused Therapy on Depression, anxiety, Stress, and Quality of Life in Patients With Cancer: A Clinical Trial

Objectives Cancer is a chronic and life-threatening disease. More than 50% of patients with cancer suffer from some psychological disorders. Compassion-focused therapy (CFT) is a new approach in psychology. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of CFT on some Pychological Sympthoms and quality of life of cancer patients. Methods This is a randomized clinical trial with a pre-test-post-test design. Thirty cancer patients referred to the chemotherapy ward of Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran, Iran, were selected by a convenience sampling method and randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The intervention group received CFT for 8 weeks. All participants were assessed by self-compassion scale (SCS), depression anxiety stress (DASS), and EORTC QLQ-C30 before, immediately after the intervention. Data were analyzed by Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) and univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA)with SPSS software, version 23. Results Anxiety, depression, and stress were significantly reduced in the intervention group in the post-test and follow-up phases (P<0.01). the quality of life significantly increased after treatment compared to the control group. Conclusion CFT can be an effective treatment for reducing depression, anxiety, and stress and improving the QoL of patients with cancer.