Abstract
Aim. This study aimed to examine the effect of well-being therapy on hope, distress tolerance and death anxiety in people with cardiovascular disease after getting a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Background. Cardiovascular patients rescued from COVID-19 face go through many psychological health issues regarding hope, distress tolerance and death anxiety. Well-being therapy has been known as one of the methods based on positive psychological approach that may have a positive effect on psychological health of these patients.
Method. This study was a semi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design with control group. The statistical population was cardiovascular patients rescued from COVID-19 living in Ahvaz city, Iran, in year 2020, from which 40 people were recruited by convenience sampling method and randomly allocated two experimental and control group. The experimental group received well-being therapy for 10 sessions of 90 minutes duration (two sessions per week) and the control group was placed on the waiting list for training. Research tools were the hope scale, distress tolerance questionnaire and death anxiety scale. Data were analyzed in SPSS-19 using Chi-square test, independent t-test and multivariate analysis of covariance.
Findings. The groups did not differ significantly in terms of gender, marital status, age, education and duration of illness. Also, before intervention, there was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of mean scores of hope, distress tolerance and death anxiety. After intervention, statistically significant difference was found between experimental and control group in the mean scores of all three dependent variables, meaning that well-being therapy improved hope (F=114.497, P≤0.0001) and distress tolerance (F=165.032, P≤0.0001), and decreased death anxiety (F=101.408, P≤0.0001) in people with cardiovascular disease after getting a COVID-19.
Conclusion. Regarding the effect of well-being therapy on improving hope and distress tolerance and decreasing death anxiety people with cardiovascular disease after getting a COVID-19, it is recommended that therapists and health professionals apply well-being therapy to improve hope and distress tolerance and decrease death anxiety in people with cardiovascular disease after getting a COVID-19.