Remisyon Dönemindeki Kanser Hastalarına Uygulanan Güçlendirme Programının Ruminatif Düşüncelere, Yorgunluğa ve Psikolojik Sağlamlığa Etkisi

Abstract

The research consists of two stages: to investigate the ruminative thoughts of cancer survivors and how they cope with these thoughts and to evaluate the program's effect by applying the developed empowerment program based on the data obtained from cancer survivors. In the first stage, descriptive qualitative research design was used. The research was completed with 21 cancer survivors. The data were collected with an introductory information form and a semi-structured interview form. The content analysis method was used to analyze the data. Three themes and 6 sub-themes related to these themes were emerged. The themes are 'Struggling with Cognitions', 'Coping' and 'Needs'. The results highlight that patients have many intrusive ruminative thoughts about cancer and need support to cope with these thoughts. The second phase of the research is a randomized controlled trial study with a pretest, posttest and follow-up design and a control group. This study was completed with a total of 57 individuals: 28 in the intervention group and 29 in the control group. Data were collected with an introductory information form, the Event Related Rumination Inventory, the Cancer Fatigue Scale and the Connor-Davidson Psychological Resilience Scale. Repeated measures analysis of variance, chi-square test, and t-test were used to analyze the data using the SPSS 26.0 software program. When the mean score of the intervention group's intrusive rumination and cancer-related fatigue were compared with the control group's post-program and follow-up measurements, it was revealed that intrusive rumination and cancer-related fatigue scores decreased statistically significantly, while the mean scores of deliberate rumination and psychological resilience increased significantly. In summary, the program was found to be effective in reducing intrusive ruminations and cancer-related fatigue and increasing deliberate ruminations and psychological resilience. It may be recommended that the empowerment program be used in future research and practices.