유방암 환자에 대한 심리교육 집단개입의 효과

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of a psycho-educational group intervention in reducing psychologic distress and enhancing coping in Korean breast cancer patients. The patient selection criteria were age younger than 70 years, having any postoperative adjuvant therapy, and surgery undergone within the previous 12 months as of the start of the study and there were 70 patients eligible for this criteria. They were randomized into three groups; experimental group(24 patients), wait-list control group(24 patients) and wait-list group(36 patients). We conducted a 8-week, structured, psychosocial group intervention, which used psycho-educational strategies combining education and psychological support. Subjects were assessed for psychological distress and coping by administering the Beck Depression Inventory(BDI) and the Ways of Coping Checklist-Revised(WCCL-R) at the baseline and after 8 weeks. Forty eight patients were participated and thirty five patients completed the study. The experimental group had significantly lower scores than the controls for depression on the BDI(p=.012) after 8-week intervention. However, coping did not show a significant difference on WCCL-R after the intervention. Despite of some limitations, the results of this study suggest that a short term psychosocial group intervention produces a significant improvement in the quality of life of patients with primary breast carcinoma in Korea in terms of managing depression.