THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COGNITIVE – BEHAVIORAL THERAPY ON STYLE AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH HYPERTENSION

Essential hypertension is one of the most important factors on quality of life and
life style and the third cause of death in the world. The purpose of the present study was to determine
the effect of cognitive behavioral therapy on improvement of quality of life and life style in patients
with essential hypertension.
Materials & Methods: In a quasi-experimental design with pre-test/post-test with control group
paradigm, a sample of 30 male patients with hypertension were selected by available sampling method
and randomly were assigned into two experimental (n=15) and one control group (n=15). The
measurement tool was World Health Organization-Quality of life (SF-36)-Short term and healthpromoting
lifestyle profileII (HPLPII) Questionnaire. Each group was in drug therapy but the
experimental group participated in eight sessions of cognitive-behavior therapy, while the control
group did not receive any treatment. The mean scores of two groups were compared through analysis
of covariance (ANCOVA).
Results: The findings showed that cognitive behavioral therapy was effective on improvement of
quality of life and life style in the patients with essential hypertension in posttest and follow up.
Conclusion: Cognitive behavioral therapy and drug therapy could be effective on improvement of
quality of life and life style in the patients with essential hypertension