Enhancement of general well-being in cancer patients through positive therapy

Pages:89-90
B. Rajalakshmi and Hemalatha Natesan (Department of Psychology, Avinashilingam, University for Women, Coimbatore)

From Coimbatore Cancer Foundation, Tamil Nadu, India, 32 cases with cancer were screened using Case Study Schedule (Natesan, 2006) and WHO General Well-being Index (WHO, 1998). It was found that the General Well-being of the entire sample was ‘Poor’. The entire sample was affected by fear and most of the subjects (above 80%) suffered from worry and anger. The psychological intervention called, Positive Therapy (Natesan, 2004) was administered on the sample individually, involving one hour per session. Ten sessions were given over a period of 2 weeks, after which they were re-assessed using the same tools. The results also proved that 35% had developed ‘Best’ general well-being and 65%, ‘Moderate’. None of them had ‘Poor’ general well-being. There was a statistically significant increase in the mean general well-being after Positive Therapy, which also helped to bring down the negative emotions of the sample.