EFFECTS OF GROUP THERAPY ON QUALITY OF LIFE OF WOMEN DIAGNOSED WITH BREAST CANCER

Abstract

This study examined the Effect of Group Therapy on Quality of Life of Women Diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Sixty-seven (67) women who were receiving treatment at the Oncology Center of Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria participated in the study. The participants’ age ranged from twenty-three (23) to seventy-two (72) years with a mean age of (41.77) and a standard deviation of (9.67). The participants were selected using simple random sampling technique. The study had intervention group and control group. The intervention group had 12 week session of 60-90 minutes therapy per week. WHOQOL-BREF and Beach Center Family Quality of Life scales were used for the pretest and post-test respectively to determined their quality of life before and after intervention. The study adopted a between group subject design. ANOVA and chai square (X²) were used for data analysis while logistic regression was used for posthoc analysis. Result showed that Group Therapy significantly improved the quality of life of women diagnosed with breast cancer (Mean diff = -16.027^*; P < 0.001). Findings also indicates that there was a significant difference between the quality of life of the Control Group and the intervention group (F = 27.162, P ≤ 0.001). Finally, the study therefore recommends that for effective and holistic treatment of breast cancer, Group Therapy should be integrated as one of the front-line complementary therapies. This was implicated to address the psychological component of cancer.