The Effect of Couple Training on Treatment Adherence of Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy

Background: Success in cancer treatment requires accepting treatments and the patient’s compliance with them. One of the factors affecting treatment adherence in women is to be supported, especially by their husbands, during different stages of treatment. Objectives: This study aimed to examine the effect of couple training on treatment adherence of breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 80 breast cancer patients admitted to the chemotherapy rooms of Khatam Al-Anbia and Ali-Ibne Abitaleb hospitals affiliated with Zahedan University of Medical Sciences and their husbands in 2022. The participants were selected using convenience sampling and randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. First, the pretest was administered to the participants in both groups. The patients in the intervention group and their husbands attended a couple-training program for three consecutive chemotherapy sessions, each lasting 40 to 60 minutes. However, the control group participants received routine training in the chemotherapy departments. Six weeks after the last intervention session, the Medication Adherence in Chronic Diseases Scale was administered to both groups. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS software (version 27) and using the paired samples t-test, independent samples t-test, chi-square test, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The significance level in this study was considered less than 0.05 (P < 0.05). Results: The mean treatment adherence score of the patients in the intervention and control groups changed from 162.60 ± 22.79 and 164.97 ± 12.95 to 175.15 ± 10.64 and 166.95 ± 9.67, respectively. The independent samples t-test showed that the mean treatment adherence score was significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group after the couple training intervention (P < 0.001). The ANCOVA also indicated that the mean treatment adherence scores of breast cancer patients in the two groups showed a statistically significant difference after the couple-training intervention (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Given the positive effect of couple training on patients’ treatment adherence, it is necessary to carry out educational interventions with the presence of spouses in training and care programs to encourage patients to pursue and adhere to treatment and emphasize their role in the continuation of treatment and adherence to it.