Investigation the Dysfunctional attitudes and its´ relationship with stress, anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients

Background: Breast cancer is considered as the most common as well as most effective malignancy in adult female population, has leaded to deep psychological and emotional problems such as depression, anxiety and stress. One of the possible factors lead to develop of depression, anxiety and stress in people based on cognitive models, is the cognitive distortions and dysfunctional attitudes towards the situation. The components included high prevalence and huge effects of breast cancer´s depression, anxiety and stress on different aspect as well as key role of dysfunctional attitudes in development of these elements; encouraged us to design and perform a study with aim to investigation the dysfunctional attitudes and its´ relationship with stress, anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients referred to a specialized cancer hospital Isfahan, Iran. Methods: This descriptive, analytic cross sectional study was conducted on cancer patients who were selected using simple sampling. A total number of 297 hospitalized patients with breast cancer were enrolled in 6 months. The clinical and demographic characteristics information, dysfunctional attitudes questionnaire (DAS-26) and the depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS-42) were used. All analyses were performed with descriptive and analytic statistical methods in SPSS for Windows 18.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Findings: Mean scores of dysfunctional attitudes were 87.35 (27.53). Also mean scores of stress, anxiety and depression were 14.16 (9.38), 11.64 (8.27) and 12.06 (9.52) relatively. Based on study findings there was a statistically significant relationship between dysfunctional attitudes with stress, anxiety and depression in patients with breast cancer. Conclusion: With regard to results of this study, breast cancer patients with higher scores dysfunctional attitudes had more stress, anxiety and depression. In addition low dysfunctional attitudes score was an important protecting factor against stress, anxiety and depression in these patients

The effect of a combined exercise program on the fatigue severity of patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy: A randomized clinical trial study

Background: Breast Cancer (BC) is one of the most common cancers in the world, including in Iran. Chemotherapy as one of the basic treatments for BC leads to many side effects such as fatigue. This study aimed to examine the effect of a combined exercise program on the intensity of fatigue in patients with BC undergoing chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: This clinical trial study was conducted on 64 patients with BC undergoing chemotherapy referring to the Seyyed al-Shoada and the Al-Zahra clinics from January to April 2022. Eligible patients who met inclusion criteria were recruited by the convenience sampling and then assigned randomly to intervention and control groups. The combined exercise program in the intervention group was done for 8 weeks as three sessions a week (34 sessions) each for 35–40 min. Piper's Fatigue Scale was completed for both groups before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods. Results: The results showed that the mean score of fatigue intensity in both control and intervention groups had a statistically significant difference after the intervention (p = 0.004). The mean fatigue intensity score in the intervention group decreased significantly from mean (SD) 8.17 (1.88) to 5.56 (1.74). Conclusions: Based on the results, a combined exercise program can reduce fatigue in patients with BC. Therefore, nurses can utilize exercise programs and practices as a subset of complementary medicine alongside other treatment methods, which can effectively promote cancer patients' quality of life by reducing their fatigue

A Study on the Efficacy of Spirituality-Based Intervention on Spiritual Well Being of Patients with Leukemia: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: Leukemia is the most common malignancy in young adults that has a life-threatening nature which increases the patients' spiritual needs, leading to emergence of spiritual crises. However, evidences indicate that spiritual needs of patients and their spiritual well-being are not emphasized among health care personnel. According to the cultural, religious and social backgrounds as well as contradictory findings in studies, this study intends to determine the effects of a spiritual-based intervention on spiritual well-being of patients with leukemia. Methods: This randomized clinical trial was conducted at Sayyed-Al-Shohada Hospital (Isfahan, Iran) in 2012-2013. We randomly divided 64 adult patients with leukemia into experimental and control groups. In the experimental group, a spiritualbased intervention that included supportive presence and support for religious rituals was implemented for three days. Both groups completed the Palutzian and Ellison Spiritual Well-being Questionnaire before and after the intervention. Data was analyzed using ANCOVA, chi-square, the Mann-Whitney U-test, and paired and independent t-tests in SPSS (Version 18, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). Results: There was a significant difference in the scores of the experimental group before and after the intervention (P<0.001). This difference was absent in the control group. According to ANCOVA results, the mean score of spiritual well-being after spiritual-based intervention in the experimental group was more than the mean score of spiritual well-being in the control group. This result was statistically significant (P<0.001, F=63.303) Conclusion: Our spiritual-based intervention promoted the spiritual well-being of patients with leukemia. Therefore, in cases of refractory diseases such as leukemia, nurses should apply a holistic care approach with emphasis on spirituality-based intervention