title: Efficacy of group meaning centered hope therapy of cancer patients and their families on patients' quality of life.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Quality of life (QOL) is a multidimensional concept which has nowadays turned to a supportive interventional goal in chronic diseases like cancer. Numerous interventions have been carried out to improve the QOL in patients with cancer, but the effect of indirect interventions on the patients' QOL has not been investigated yet. This study aimed to compare the efficacy of group meaning centered hope therapy of cancer patients and their families on the patients' QOL.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a clinical trial conducted in three groups with a pre-test post-test design in which the effect of independent variable of meaning centered hope therapy on the dependent variable of QOL was investigated. The subjects were selected from the cancer patients who were aware of their diagnosis, were in primary stages of the disease, and had passed one period of chemotherapy. In this study, 42 patients (16 in control group, 14 in patients' group therapy, and 12 in patients' families' group therapy) were studied, and WHOQOL was adopted to investigate their QOL. Data were analyzed in two forms of descriptive and inferential statistical tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results obtained showed that group meaning centered hope therapy of cancer patients and their families had a positive effect on patients' QOL compared to the control group. The notable finding of the present study was that holding group sessions either for the patients or for their families equally improved patients' QOL.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  QOL of the cancer patients can be improved by either group meaning centered hope therapy for patients or group meaning centered hope therapy for their families. This finding is important for therapists, as when the patients cannot attend group therapy sessions due to complications of chemotherapy, these sessions can be held for their families to improve patients' QOL. This conclusion is very helpful in nurses' interaction with the patients and their families.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Bu-Ali University, Hamedan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehran
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Farhadi
authors.affiliation: Islamic Azad University, Hamedan Branch, Hamedan, Iran.
authors.forename: Negar
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Reisi-Dehkordi
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychologic and Education Science, University of Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehrdad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kalantari
authors.affiliation: Nursing and Midwifery Care Research Center, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zargham-Boroujeni
keywords: Cancer; Iran; caregivers; hope therapy; quality of life