Abstract

Introduction: In recent years, the survival rate of breast cancer increases due to improvement in early detection and curative therapies and it highlights the importance of supportive care. The focus of supportive care is on well-being and bettering patient's Quality of life. Sense of coherence (SOC) is a factor enhancing the QOL. SOC represents patient's perception of life and ability to cope with major stressful life events. family-based and self-help group therapies are examples of supportive care. This study aimed to compare SOC, QOL, and their correlation in two groups of women with breast cancer, under family-based or self-help group therapy.

Methods and Materials: Participants were selected from patients, aged 18-65 years, with stage3 breast cancer or higher, referred to "ENTEKHAB" Cancer Center in Isfahan.80 patients were randomized into two interventional groups after obtaining informed consent. Data were collected using QOL BR23 (score range=23-92) and Antonov sky’s SOC13 (score range=13-91). Validity and reliability of this questionnaire’s Farsi version were confirmed and compared before and after intervention in both groups.

Results: The mean participant's age was 45.4±7.9 years. There was significant difference in the mean changes in QOL between family-based (6.3±5.5) and self-help (2.9±3.9) groups (p < 0.05). There was significant difference in the mean change in SOC between family-based (10.9±3.3) and self-help (4.1±3.1) group (p < 0.05)

Discussion: Results demonstrated that family-based intervention is more effective than self-help intervention in enhancing QOL and SOC of patients with breast cancer. QOL enhance is the result of these factors: family participation and Improvement of SOC.