comparing the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy with an integrated package of gestalt therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy on the self-efficacy of women with breast cancer

Background: breast cancer, as the most common prevalent cancer in iran, is associated with severe psychological consequences. this study aimed to compare the effectiveness of cognitive- behavioral therapy (cbt) with an integrated package of gestalt therapy and cognitive- behavioral therapy (gt-cbt) on the self-efficacy of women with breast cancer. methods: this research was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test, post-test design and a control group. sixty patients with breast cancer referred to the cancer clinic of imam khomeini hospital in tehran city, iran, were recruited through a convenience sampling method. they were randomly assigned to the control (n=20), cbt (n=20), and gt-cbt (n=20) groups. the study data were collected by the sherer self-efficacy scale and analyzed using descriptive (mean±sd) and inferential statistics (analysis of covariance [ancova]) in spss software, v. 20. results: the results indicated that both cbt and gt-cbt have significantly increased the subjects’ self-efficacy (eta=0.73, f51, 2=70.60, p<0.001). post hoc test indicated that gt-cbt is more effective than cbt (p<0.05). conclusion: the effectiveness of gt-cbt on the subjects’ self-efficacy was higher than cbt. therefore, it is suggested to use integrated methods such as gt-cbt to enhance the self-efficacy of patients with breast cancer.