The Effect of Religious Psychotherapy Emphasizing the Importance of Prayers on Mental Health and Pain in Cancer Patients

The religious aspect is the most important aspect of the human nature that helps the human achieve the meaning and purpose of life as well as playing a very important role in the health of patients. This study aimed to determine the effect of religious psychotherapy emphasizing the importance of prayers on mental health and pain in cancer patients. This study is a clinical trial that was conducted in 2017 in Yasuj, Iran. According to the purpose of the study, the patients were randomly assigned into two experimental and control groups. Prayers 15 and 23 of the SahifehSajjadiyeh book were read at the beginning of the treatment sessions, and the patients were asked to pay attention to the meaning of prayer. The data were analyzed using SPSS 16 software. Before implementing the intervention, the mean and standard deviation of mental health score of the patients in the experimental and control groups were equal to 16.40 (2.21) and 16.56 (1.56). But after implementing the intervention, the mean and standard deviation of mental health score were equal to 11.24 (2.93) and 16.82 (1.83) which illustrates a significant statistical increase. Implementing the supportive spiritual intervention has been tested to enhance the mental health and reduce the pain of patients in the experimental group. Regarding this improvement, it is suggested a religious intervention be implemented to increase these patients’ health in a participatory way.