The Effect of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (MBCT) on Perceived Stress, Disease Adaptability, Quality of Life, and Cognitive Functions in Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy

Objective: This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive-behavioral therapy on the perceived stress, disease adaptation, quality of life, and cognitive function of patients undergoing chemotherapy. Method: The design of the study was semi-experimental with a pretest-post test and control group. The statistical population of this study was all patients with sarcoma-lymphatic and gastrointestinal cancer undergoing chemotherapy in Firoozgar-Taleghani-Shariati specialized hospitals in Tehran in the second half of ۲۰۲۱. The study sample consisted of ۴۰ patients with cancer who were selected through convenience sampling and then were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups (۲۰ in each group). The therapy was performed by the researcher for eight ۹۰ minutes –sessions, two sessions per week. Research data were collected using Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale, Watson's disease adaptability, Barclay's cognitive functions, and quality of life questionnaires, and were analyzed by multivariate repeated measures variance analysis. Results: The results showed a significant difference in all variables, and demonstrated that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy significantly improved perceived stress, disease adaptation, quality of life, and cognitive functions of participants in the experimental group in the post-test and follow-up. Conclusion: According to the research findings, it can be concluded that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is effective in improving the psychological indicators of cancer patients.