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. 2019 May;19(2):107-114.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2019.02.001. Epub 2019 Mar 15.

Effectiveness of therapy group in women with localized breast cancer

Ascensión Bellver-Pérez  1 , Cristina Peris-Juan  2 , Ana Santaballa-Beltrán  3
Affiliations

Effectiveness of therapy group in women with localized breast cancer

Ascensión Bellver-Pérez et al. Int J Clin Health Psychol. 2019 May.

Abstract
in English, Spanish

Background/objective: Breast cancer causes high levels of anxiety and depression, deteriorating quality of life of patients. Several studies have found that group therapy reduces depression and anxiety also improves the quality of life. The aim of this study is to analyze group therapy effectiveness in emotional state and quality of life in women with breast cancer after finalized medical treatments.

Method: Participants in this study were 100 adult women diagnosed of breast cancer non-mestastasic and were divided into two types of intervention groups (Self-esteem-Social Skills and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy). Evaluation instruments were questionnaire Functional Assessment of Breast-cancer Therapy (FACT-B) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).

Results: A statistically significant effect of group therapy in reducing anxiety and depression were observed. Quality of life and emotional well-being significantly improved. These effects remain three months after intervention.

Conclusions: The results show that the psychological intervention group is efficient to improve emotional state and quality of life of women with breast cancer.

Antecedentes/objetivo: El cáncer de mama provoca niveles altos de ansiedad y depresión, empeorando la calidad de vida (CV) de las pacientes. En numerosos estudios se ha visto que la terapia grupal reduce la depresión y ansiedad además de mejorar la CV. El objetivo de este estudio es analizar la efectividad de la intervención de la terapia grupal en el estado emocional y la CV de mujeres con cáncer de mama localizado al finalizar los tratamientos médicos.

Método: La muestra consta de 100 mujeres diagnosticadas de cáncer de mama no metastásico, divididas en dos tipos de grupos de intervención (Autoestima-habilidades sociales y Terapia cognitivo-conductual). Los instrumentos de evaluación fueron el cuestionario Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast y la Escala Hospitalaria de Ansiedad y Depresión (HADS).

Resultados: Se observa un efecto estadísticamente significativo de la terapia grupal en la reducción de la ansiedad y la depresión. Las medias de la CV y del bienestar emocional mejoran de manera significativa. Estos efectos se mantienen tres meses después de la intervención.

Conclusiones: Los resultados muestran la efectividad de los grupos de terapia para mujeres con cáncer de mama mejorando el estado emocional y la CV.

Keywords: Breast cancer; Cuasi-experimental study; Emotional state; Group therapy; Quality of life.

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