Introduction: Considering the necessity of appropriate psychological treatments for chronic diseases such as hepatitis B, this study aimed to investigating the effect of group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) on depression and life expectancy in patients with hepatitis B.
Materials and Methods: The statistical community of this clinical trial consisted of patients with hepatitis B (25-40 year) of Mashhad city, 2012 who had depression (based on the criteria DSM-IV-TR and Beck depression inventory) and lower rate of life expectancy (according to test scores of Hope Schneider questionnaire). Through convenient method, 28 individuals were selected. Then they divided randomly into two equal groups of control and experimental groups. The experimental group received cognitive behavioral therapy for 3 months (weekly sessions), while control group did not receive any training. After completing the course, the variables were measured again by the mentioned questionnaires. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, covariance analysis (ANCOVA) by SPSS software version 19.
Results:ANCOVA analysis showed that group cognitive-behavioral therapy increased the life expectancy scores significantly (P<0.01). Although this therapy is effective on depression, but the effect is not statistically significant (P=0.18).
Conclusion: According to our findings it seems that cognitive-behavioral group therapy as a therapeutic approach can be effective in depression and especially enhancement of life expectancy among patients with hepatitis B.