Effectiveness of behavioral activation group therapy on attributional styles, depression, and quality of life in women with breast cancer

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women. This study has been conducted with the aim of investigating the effectiveness of behavioral activation group therapy on attributional styles, depression, and quality of life in women with breast cancer.
Materials and Methods: This clinical trial carried out using a pretest-posttest control ‎group design. Of all the women suffering from breast cancer who referred to Mashhad Omid Hospital in 2015, 30 individuals were selected through convenience sampling method and were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The experimental group received 8 weeks of behavioral activation group therapy while the control group was put on the waiting list to get treated. Peterson and Seligman Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ), Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), and Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) were applied in the pretest and posttest. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) by SPSS-22 software.
Results: The results demonstrated that behavioral activation group therapy leads to a change in attributional styles (P<0.001), a significant increase in quality of life (P<0.001), and reduced depression (P<0.001) compared to the control group.
Conclusion: It seems that behavioral activation group therapy can improve the attributional styles, depression, and quality of life in women with breast cancer.