Effects of Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy on Increased Life Expectancy of Male Patients with Gastric Cancer

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignancies in the world, which is classified as a multifactorial illness. Most canceric patients experience a period of stress. Since being patient and positive thinking play an effective role in coping with chronic diseases. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy group on being patient and positive thinking in gastric cancer patients. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed on 92 men with gastric cancer who were referred to the Tooba Medical Center in Sari who were randomly divided into two groups of 46 test and control groups. The two groups completed the standard questionnaire of positive thinking (150-30 points) and being patient (100-0 score) in the pre-test phase. The test group was trained of cognitive behavioral therapy for ten sessions of 90 minutes. The control group did not receive any special intervention. Then, both groups completed the questionnaires again in the post-test phase. FINDINGS: The mean score of positive thinking before the test in the test group was (88.71±24.21) and in the control group was (94.54±24.23). The mean score of being patient in the test group was (26.66±22.20) and in the control group was (30.45±22.42) that they were not significant. However, in the post-test phase, positive thinking (test group 106.33±28.16 vs. control group 94.43±24.71) (p<0.01) and in terms of being patient (the test group 23±23.5) /40 versus 30.91 ± 20.89 control group (p