The Effect of Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention Package on Improving Fear Symptoms, Quality of Life and Psychological Health in Patients with COVID-19

Background: COVID-19 had a destructive effect on human’s life. People with COVID-19 experienced high levels of depression, anxiety, and low Quality of Life (QOL). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the cognitive-behavioral intervention package on reducing stress, depression, and anxiety, as well as improving the QOL of patients with COVID-19. Methods: In this randomized controlled trial, 60 patients with COVID-19 who entered the isolation ward were included and randomly divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental group entered the intervention sessions once a week for 45 minutes for eight consecutive weeks. The intervention consisted of 8 sessions of CBT which was implemented for the experimental group. Patients in the control group received routine care during this period. DASS21, the Symptom Checklist (SCL-90), Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S), and WHO-QOL were used to measure patients’ mental health and QOL. Data analysis was performed with ANCOVA using SPSS24 software. Results: There was no significant difference between groups in terms of DASS21, SCL-90 and QOL before intervention (p<0.05). After intervention, depression symptom and QOL were significantly improved in the experimental group compared to control group (p< 0.05). Accordingly, the findings stated the session of intervention was effective in improving the QOL (p<0.05) and mental illnesses (p<0.05) in patients with COVID-19. Conclusion: Our designed cognitive-behavioral intervention package can enhance the awareness and mental health of patients with COVID-19. This package as an auxiliary treatment can reduce anxiety/depression and improve QOL in patients with COVID-19. Therefore, our intervention package can serve as a useful solution for clinical settings to reduce mental health problems during crisis.