• Fatemeh Faghani, Azadeh Choobforoushzadeh, Mohammad Reza Sharbafchi, and Hanieh Poursheikhali.
• Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanistic and Social Sciences, Ardakan University, Ardakan, Iran.
• Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. 2022 Aug 1; 134 (15-16): 593-601.

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based supportive psychotherapy on posttraumatic growth, resilience, and self-compassion of the cancer patients.MethodsThis quasi-experimental study was conducted as a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up inquiry with a control group. A total of 30 patients who met the inclusion criteria were selected through the convenience sampling method out of all patients referred to ALA Cancer Prevention and Control Center (MACSA) in Isfahan city, Iran. They were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The experimental group received mindfulness-based supportive psychotherapy (SP) for 6 sessions of 90-min, while the control group only received treatment as usual (TAU). Finally, both groups were re-evaluated through the post-test and follow-up stages after 3 months. The research instruments included the Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and Neff's Self-Compassion Scale. Collected data were analyzed using the repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVA).ResultsThe results showed that the group supportive psychotherapy significantly increased posttraumatic growth (p < 0.05) and resilience (p < 0.05), and improved self-compassion (p < 0.05) in the experimental group over the post-test phase. At the post-intervention phase, the effect sizes were Cohen's d = 0.72, d = 0.68, and d = 0.63 for post-traumatic growth, resilience, and self-compassion, respectively. Changes were constantly implemented in the follow-up phase as well.ConclusionAccording to the results of the present study, mindfulness-based supportive psychotherapy could be used along with usual medical treatment in order to improve post-traumatic growth, resilience, and self-compassion in cancer patients.© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature.

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