ONLINE COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL STRESS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM FOR BREAST CANCER PATIENTS

Objective: Breast cancer is a challenging process that affects the diagnosed people and their social environment psychologically, physiologically, socially, and economically. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the Online Cognitive Behavioral Stress Management (CBSM) for Cancer program, which is structured for people diagnosed with cancer to develop coping methods that will enable them to cope with the stress they experience healthily and actively. The research question is whether attending the CBSM program is effective for the psychological well-being of breast cancer patients or not. Material and Method: The study was completed with a total of 35 people, 17 in the experimental group and 18 in the control group. The pretest-posttest results of the experimental and control groups were analyzed. The independent sample t-test was used in the comparison of tthe two groups of experimental and control groups. Paired sample t-test was used to compare the pretest-posttest scores of each group. Results: There was a significant difference observed between the experimental and control groups in the post-test measurements in terms of psychosocial adjustment to illness, assessment of coping attitudes, depression, hope, state, and trait anxiety (p<0.001). There was no significant difference in the pre-test and post-test scores of the experimental and control groups in terms of mental adjustment to cancer. Conclusion: The CBSM program for breast cancer patients is effective in coping with daily and illness-related stress by increasing psychological well-being: increased psychosocial adjustment, adaptation and decreased depression, and anxiety