Effectiveness of Schema Therapy based on Mindfulness on Alexithymia and Sense of Coherence of Women with Breast Cancer

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of schema therapy based on mindfulness on Alexithymia and sense of coherence of women with breast cancer in Tehran in 1402. The research method was semi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population of the study included all women with breast cancer in Tehran, who were selected by the available and targeted sampling method and were placed in two experimental (15 people) and control (15 people) groups. The experimental group underwent 10 90-minute sessions of schema therapy training based on mindfulness, and the control group remained waiting for treatment during this period. The method of data collection was based on the standard questionnaire of Alexithymia (Begbi et al., 1994) and the standard questionnaire of sense of coherence (Kimaei et al., 2012). The reliability of the questionnaire was calculated using Cronbach's alpha method, and its value for the Alexithymia questionnaire was 81. And the sense of coherence of the questionnaire was above 0.7. Likewise, content validity was used to test the validity of the questionnaire, and for this purpose, the questionnaires were approved by the relevant experts. The analysis of the information obtained from the implementation of the questionnaires was done through SPSS24 software in two descriptive and inferential sections (covariance analysis). The results of the research showed that the schema therapy based on mindfulness reduced the "Alexithymia" of women with breast cancer. Also, the results showed that schema therapy based on mindfulness improved Alexithymia in women with breast cancer. Therefore, the findings of the present study showed that schema therapy based on mindfulness is effective in reducing Alexithymia and increasing the sense of coherence of breast cancer patients.