The Effectiveness of Self-Hypnosis in Reducing Anxiety Levels in Cancer Patients

Chemotherapy becomes the primary treatment for cancer patients, but it causes various side effects and leads to anxiety. Many efforts have been made to address anxiety, one of which is self-hypnosis performed independently by the patient. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of self-hypnosis in reducing the anxiety levels of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. This study applied a quasi-experimental design with a one-group pretest-posttest approach. A total of 40 cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy at Persahabatan Hospital were selected using purposive sampling. The intervention was self-hypnosis, administered for three consecutive days. Anxiety levels were measured using the HARS scale before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed using univariate and bivariate analysis, including normality testing and the dependent t-test. The results show that in the intervention group, there was an average decrease of 10.83 from 31.78 to 20.95. The results of the dependent T-test showed a p-value of 0.015; there is a significant difference in the average anxiety levels before and after the intervention. The implications of this study on healthcare are to enhance the role of nurses in providing independent nursing care. Nurses can better understand the adaptation processes that occur in cancer patients, where patients must undergo a long series of treatments, thus having to adapt from their previous environment, where they could move freely, to a limited one due to declining physical conditions and dependence on healthcare services to improve their health. Relaxation through self-hypnosis can restore patients' motivation to recover and become more optimistic about undergoing treatment.