Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic Of Iran

en Comparison of the Effect of 2 Virtual Education Methods: Family-based Versus Peer-Support on Perceived Stress and Stress Coping in Women with Breast Cancer: A Randomized Controlled Trial Health Education Health Education Original Research Original Research     Background: Stress is an overwhelming feeling in patients with breast cancer (BC). However, The effect of virtual education has not been fully regulated. Hence, this study intends to compare the impact of 2 virtual education methods on perceived stress and stress coping in women with BC.    Methods: A 3-armed randomized clinical trial was conducted among 315 women with BC who were referred to the Cancer Institute in Tehran. They were randomly assigned to 3 groups: (a) Family-based, receiving family-based training package; (b) peer-support, receiving peer-support educational package;  and (c) control, receiving routine hospital care. Data were collected through demographic and disease characteristics, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14), and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS-21) questionnaires before and 3 months after the intervention.    Results: The effect of the group factor after controlling the before-intervention scores in perceived stress, problem-oriented, emotion-oriented, and avoidance-oriented strategies were P < 0.0001, P = 0.015, P < 0.0001, and P = 0.111, respectively. Also, the effect of the confounding factor of BC disease stage in the dependent variables was P = 0.527, P = 0.275, P = 0.358, and P = 0.609, respectively. The effect size test showed that before the intervention, the mean scores of perceived stress, problem-oriented, emotion-oriented, and avoidance-oriented strategies were 32.00 ± 7.03, 19.36 ± 4.68, 25.10 ± 5.90, and 17.65 ± 6.64 respectively, but after the intervention showed a decrease in mean scores of perceived stress, emotion-oriented, and avoidance strategies.    Conclusion: What is vibrant in virtual family-based education is far more effective than peer support when problem-oriented coping increases. Conversely, reducing perceived stress in women with BC receiving enough information and family support should be considered.   Virtual Education, Family-Based, Peer-Support, Breast Neoplasms, Stress 94 103 http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-8506-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Somayyeh Shalchi Oghli somayyehshalchioghli@gmail.com 200319475328460088816 200319475328460088816 No Department of Health Education and Promotion, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Roya Sadeghi sadeghir@tums.ac.ir 200319475328460088817 200319475328460088817 Yes Department of Health Education and Promotion, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Ramesh Omranipour omranipour@tums.ac.ir 200319475328460088818 200319475328460088818 No Breast Cancer Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Abbas Rahimi Foroushani rahimifo@tums.ac.ir 200319475328460088819 200319475328460088819 No Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Mahnaz Ashoorkhani ashoorkhani1392@yahoo.com 200319475328460088820 200319475328460088820 No Department of Health Education and Promotion, School of Public Health, & Community-Based Participatory Research Center, Iranian Institute for Reduction of High-Risk Behaviors, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Yaser Tedadi YTedadi@tums.ac.ir 200319475328460088821 200319475328460088821 No Department of Health Education and Promotion, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran