The Effect of Positive Psychotherapy Balance Model Based Psychoeducation on Balanced Life, Psychological Well-Being and Self-Efficacy in Caregivers of Oncology Patients.

İntroduction and Objective: Cancer is one of the leading chronic health problems in terms of mortality and morbidity all over the world, accompanied by many symptoms, requiring a long-term treatment process, and requiring attentive care not only in the hospital but also in the home environment. For an individual with a diagnosis of cancer, the caregiver is involved in all physical, emotional, social, spiritual and economic dimensions of patient care. Caregivers are involved in the they play an important role in the care, adaptation and management of the disease. Struggling with a vital disease such as cancer is a serious physical, economic and social challenge not only for the patient but also for the patients family and close environment, especially in terms of mental health status affects in a sense. The continuous and intensive nature of caregiving, combined with other responsibilities in the life spheres of individuals caring for oncology patients, turns into a dependent, unidirectional, intensive and long-term obligation that disrupts the care-giving-caregiving relationship, distresses the caregivers life, and creates a conflict between the care roles of the caregiver with family relationships, entertainment, work and social life roles. Caregivers need to find a balance to resolve the conflict between the responsibilities of the care role and their own needs and demands. However, they benefit from limited training, information and support in the caregiving role.

The principle of balance, which is one of the principles of positive psychotherapy, argues that it is possible for individuals to cope with their conflicts by allocating their life energies to four areas in a balanced way. In accordance with the principle of balance, individuals should use the areas of body, relationship, success and future/spirituality in a balanced way in order to solve the problems they experience. Because, according to positive psychotherapy, it is possible for individuals to have a fully healthy and productive life with the importance they will give to these four basic life dimensions and the balanced use of the time and energy they will spend. In the context of positive psychotherapy, an individual who has a balanced life goal and also has high general self-efficacy skills is expected to be more courageous and willing to show the necessary efforts to maintain a balanced life. Because the individual with high general self-efficacy skills will have a strong belief in overcoming the problems he/she may encounter despite the effort he/she will make for a balanced life, and thus, the individual who has the desire to live a balanced life and can find the competence to make the necessary efforts will be able to keep his/her motivation high to continue his/her efforts as he/she sees the positive changes in his/her life with the steps he/she will take. The concept of psychological well-being, which focuses on the self-development and growth of the individual by realising his/her own meaning, competence and capacity based on the individuals own self-powers and competencies, is the natural result of the process experienced by the individual aiming for such a life at this point. In this direction, it can be said that adopting a loving, connected and balanced state of mind in the face of the difficulties experienced by caregivers and the responsibilities they undertake will increase the joy, meaning, self-sufficiency in life and, as a result, may contribute positively to their level of well-being. All these results help caregivers to recognise their own resources, maintain their life balance, and adopt a positive perspective towards themselves.

Materials and Methods: In this study, positive psychotherapy balance model applied to individuals caring for oncology patients the effect of psychoeducation intervention on balanced life, psychological well-being and self-efficacy. It will be carried out as a randomised control group experimental research with pretest-posttest follow-up. The independent variable of the study is positive psychotherapy balance model based psychoeducation intervention. The dependent variables are Balanced Life Scale, Psychological Well-Being Scale, Self-Efficacy Scale. The control variables are the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants (gender, age, educational status, marital status, etc.) and the characteristics related to the caregiving process (duration of care, time allocated for care, etc.).

Hypothesis 1: Positive psychotherapy balance model-based psychoeducation has an effect on increasing the level of balanced life.

H1.1: Positive psychotherapy balance model based psychoeducation has an effect on increasing the level of success.