The Effectiveness of Schema Therapy on Perceived Stress in Patients with Hypertension Attending

Background: Hypertension (HTN) is one of the most common risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), leading to numerous issues and complications; additionally, perceived stress results in increased blood pressure (BP) and decreased performance in these individuals. Given the significance of HTN, this study aimed to determine the effectiveness of schema therapy on perceived stress in patients with HTN attending comprehensive health service centers.

Methods: The study was applied in terms of its goal and semi-experimental in terms of method (field), featuring a pre-test, post-test, follow-up, and control group design. The research population included all patients with HTN attending comprehensive health service centers in Isfahan City, Iran, in 2023. From this population, 45 individuals were purposefully selected based on criteria including scoring two standard deviations (SD) above the mean on the Life Stress Questionnaire and other inclusion criteria. These individuals were randomly assigned to two experimental and one control group (15 people each). The experimental groups received 11 weekly 90-minute schema therapy sessions, while the control group received no intervention. The research instrument was the Life Stress Questionnaire completed by the patients at three stages: pre-test, post-test, and 3-month follow-up. Data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA), mixed design, and Bonferroni post hoc test.

Results: Schema therapy effectively improved perceived stress in patients with HTN (P < 0.05, η² = 0.56). The effectiveness of the treatment remained stable during the follow-up period, with significant differences observed between the experimental and control groups in the post-test and follow-up stages (P < 0.001).

Conclusion: Schema therapy is efficacious in improving perceived stress in patients with HTN and can be utilized to reduce psychological problems in these patients.