The effect of midwifery- led supportive program on stress in breast cancer women

Background: Diagnosing and treating breast cancer is considered as a stressful factor for women while affects different dimensions of their lives. Stress management is very important in these patients. This study aims to determining the effect of midwifery-led supportive program on stress in breast cancer women.Methods: This study is a controlled clinical trial including the women with breast cancer referring to chemotherapy section in Imam Khomeini hospital, Sari, in 2018. Then, 60 patients were allocated into two groups (Intervention=30 and control= 30) through sequential blocking. The supportive program was held for six weekly sessions for 90 minutes for intervention group in addition to routine care. Control group received just routine care. The tools of data collection included medical sociodemographic information form and Depression- Anxiety- Stress Questionnaire filled by patients before, during and one month after intervention. The control group filled the questionnaires at beginning of the study, 6 weeks and one month after that. Thedata were analyzed in SPSS 18 and independent samples T-tests, Chi-square, Mann-Whitney, Fisher exact test, effect size and generalized estimating equations were done too.Results: The results indicated that the score of stress (P=0.226) were not significantly different in both intervention and control groups, before the supportive program. The results of generalized estimating equations indicated that the score of stress decreased 4.89 score in intervention group comparing to control group (P<0/001), (effect size after intervention: 1/94, follow up: 2/43).Conclusion: According to the effectiveness of midwifery-led supportive program on reducing stress among women with breast cancer, it is recommended to promote the health of women with breast cancer by informing oncologists, surgeons and patients about non-pharmaceutical methods like midwifery-led supportive program and to give the patients a choice to choose these methods besides empowering health care services.Message for policymakers: The findings can be effective for providing psychological services among women with breast cancer by health policymakers, because the health of family and society is affected by women’s health.

کلیدواژه ها:

breast cancer ، stress ، midwifery-led care