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High levels of depression and anxiety in the family caregivers of a patient with cancer affect their quality of life. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a mindful self-compassion (MSC) training program on self-compassion in the family caregivers of patients with cancer.

In 2020, this quasi-experimental study used convenience sampling to select 92 family caregivers of patients with cancer presenting to the oncology ward of Seyed-Al-Shohada Hospital, Isfahan, Iran. The subjects randomly assigned to two groups participated in an online MSC program for 1.5 months. All the participants completed a self-compassion scale (Neff) before, immediately after and one month after the intervention. The data were analyzed using the Mann–Whitney U test, the Chi-squared test, the LSD test, the t-test and repeated measures ANOVA.

The total mean score of self-compassion, respectively, obtained as 64.64 ± 8.23 and 64.44 ± 4.94 in the experimental and control groups before the intervention significantly increased to 81.15 ± 7.94 and 64.06 ± 5.22 immediately after and 78.94 ± 8.22 and 64.22 ± 4.85 one month after the intervention (P < 0.001).

Given the potential for negative psychological impacts for patients, caregivers and clinicians in cancer care, the online MSC program can be recommended to support and reduce psychological distress in them.

This paper examined the effect of the online MSC program on self-compassion in the family caregivers of patients with cancer and can contribute to our understanding of the value of integrating mental health of caregivers and care of patients with cancer.