Effectiveness of Group Cognitive-Existential therapy on Depression of parents with children having cancer

This Study used a semi experimental method as the pretest – posttest and to evaluate the effectiveness of cognitive-existential therapy on depression of parent with children having cancer. Methods: For this purpose 30 parents with children having cancer (24 to 54 years old) were divided randomly into experimental and control groups. Both groups were evaluated with Beck depression Inventory–II (1996), before the intervention. The experimental group received group cognitive-existential therapy in 12 sessions, each lasting 90 minutes (2 sessions per week), but no psychological intervention was applied in control group. At the end of intervention, both groups were reassessed. Data using SPSS software for statistical analysis of covariance test were analyzed. Results indicate significant differences in rates of depression between the two groups in favor of experimental group. Conclusion: cognitive-existential therapy can be effective in reducing depression in parent of children with cancer.