Effect of Individual Buddhist Counseling Psychological on Adaptation of Cancer Patients

Abstract

               The objective of this research was to study the effects of individual counseling based on Buddhist Psychology on the adaptation of cancer patients. This mixed-method research employed a one-group pretest-posttest design to compare results before and after the counseling sessions. The sample group consisted of patients receiving treatment at Priest Hospital, diagnosed with stage 1-2 cancer, aged between 40-70 years old. A purposive sampling method was used to select 10 participants, each receiving five counseling sessions of 45-60 minutes. The tools used in this study were individual counseling records and cancer patient adaptation assessment forms. Quantitative data analysis utilized statistics including mean, standard deviation, and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test to test the hypothesis comparing the mean levels of individual counseling based on Buddhist Psychology on the adaptation of cancer patients. Qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis.

               The research findings revealed that the adaptation scores of cancer patients after receiving individual counseling based on Buddhist Psychology were significantly higher than before at the .05 level. When analyzing the scores in various aspects, including physical needs, self-concept needs, role and responsibility needs, and dependence needs, it was found that the scores in all aspects were significantly higher after the experiment at the .05 level. The results from the interview data analysis showed that individual counseling based on Buddhist Psychology helped enhance cancer patients' self-understanding and the selection of appropriate problem-solving methods.