Comparison of the Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Spiritual Therapy on the Death Anxiety of Women with Breast Cancer

Abstract Objectives:. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy and spiritual therapy on the death anxiety of women with breast cancer. Materials and Methods: The present study was based on a quasi-experimental design comprising three groups, with pre-test, post-test and a two-month follow-up. For the purpose of this study, considering inclusion and exclusion criteria, 24 women with breast cancer were selected based on availability method by investigating their history and clinical interviews. They were then randomly assigned into three groups, including (1) acceptance and commitment therapy, (2) spiritual therapy, and (3) control. The experimental groups received 8 sessions of 90 minute treatment interventions once a week, and then, two months later, the follow-up was performed. The control group did not receive any treatment. The research instruments incleded structured clinical interview for DSM-IV and Templar death anxiety scale (DAS). All three groups completed the pre-test, post-test and follow-up steps. Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, Shapiro-Wilk index, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), repeated measures analysis of variance, post-hoc and multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) and SPSS-21 software. Results: The result showed that there was a significant difference between the effects of acceptance and commitment therapy and spiritual therapy on death anxiety (P< 0.05, F = 4.07). the effect of spiritual therapy on death anxiety was significant (P