Review of effective non-pharmacological interventions in controlling stress among patients with breast cancer

Elahe Samami,1 Zohreh shahhosseini,2,* Forouzan elyasi,3 Seyyed noraddin mosavi nasab,4 Leila shojaee,5 Ehsan zaboli,6

1. M.Sc. Student of Midwifery counseling. Student Research committee, Mazandaran University of Medical Science, Sari, Iran.
2. Sexual and Reproductive Health Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Science, Sari, Iran.
3. Department of Psychiatry, Psychiatry and Behavioral Research Center,Mazandaran University of Medical Science,Sari, Iran.
4. Health Sciences Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Science, Sari, Iran.
5. Gastrointestinal Cancer research center, Mazandaran University of Medical Science, Sari, Iran.
6. Gastrointestinal Cancer research center, Mazandaran University of Medical Science, Sari, Iran.

Abstract

Introduction

: diagnosing breast cancer is considered as a stressful factor in women’s life, which affects various aspects of their life. there are different non-pharmacological interventions to control these stresses so this review aims to investigate the effective non-pharmacological interventions in controlling stress among women with breast cancer.

Methods

This study is a review that the researcher was initially conducted her computer search in google scholar database and then more specifically in persian databases such as scientific information database (sid), magiran, and in english databases included pubmed, web of science, scopus, science direct and springer using persian and english keywords from 2000 to 2018 to find related articles. finally out of 310 articles, 85 studies were used to write this study.

Results

: the research findings indicated that following interventions can be used to control and reduce stress in women with breast cancer: cognitive behavioral therapy and cognitive therapy (12 studies), mindfulness (15 studies), supportive group therapy (11 studies), problem solving and self-management (8 studies), music therapy (4 studies), yoga (7 studies), relaxation (5 studies), social support (8 studies), family support (3 studies), spiritual group therapy (4 studies), religion therapy (3 studies) and hope therapy (3 studies).

Conclusion

According to the significance of mentioned non-pharmacological interventions, health service providers can collect suitable programs and use the interventions correctly in order to reduce stress and improve women’s health.

Keywords

Stress, breast cancer, psychological interventions, social intervention,spiritual interventions