Effectiveness of Strength Oriented Family Therapy on Hope, Anxiety, Stress and Depression among Mothers of Children with Cancer

The aim of the present research was to study the effectiveness of strength-oriented family therapy on hope, anxiety, stress and depression among mothers of children with cancer. The research method was quasi-experimental with experimental and control groups by pre-test and post-test. The statistical population included all mothers of children with cancer at Ardabil city of Iran in 2015. A group of 30 mothers were selected by convenience sampling method, and they were placed randomly in two groups (15 persons in the experimental group and 15 persons in the control group). All participants completed the Persian Version of the Herth Hope Index (HHI-Persian version) and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS). The experimental group received the strength-oriented intervention within 10 sessions. Multivariate analysis of covariance was applied to analyze the data. Results indicated that the strength-oriented family therapy causes a significant change in increasing hope and reducing stress and depression in the experimental group. But there was no significant difference between groups in anxiety.