Abstract

Cancer is considered as a chronic disease in human society, suffering from which is a horrific diagnosis leading to death anxiety and loss of life expectancy among the patients. The study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of logotherapy on life expectancy and death anxiety in cancer patients at 5 Azar Hospital of Gorgan, Iran in 2017. Methods: The study was experimental with simple random sampling method where the population was all cancer patients admitted to 5 Azar Hospital. Forty subjects were selected from this population using convenience sampling and randomly assigned to experimental (20 subjects) and control (20 subjects) groups. In group-logotherapy training, 8 sessions of 60-90 minutes were performed in 4 groups of 5. No intervention was performed in the control group. Data collection tools were Snyder's Adults Hope Scale (AHS) and Templer's Death Anxiety Scale (DAS). Results: According to the obtained results, life expectancy and death anxiety in the experimental group were higher than those of the control group after the intervention. Moreover, paired t-test showed a significant difference in the experimental group before and after the intervention, so that logotherapy improved life expectancy and mitigated death anxiety in cancer patients (p < 0.01). Conclusion: Considering the effect of logotherapy on improving life expectancy and mitigating death anxiety in cancer patients, it is recommended that relevant authorities try to change the viewpoints of cancer patients about death and meaning in life through counseling and psychotherapy sessions.