The present study evaluated "Restore: The Journey Toward Self-Forgiveness," a brief psycho-spiritual curriculum for encouraging self-forgiveness. This was a randomized, wait-list controlled trial including 83 cancer patients and caregivers. Restore encourages self-acceptance, self-improvement, and commitment using prayer/meditation, reflection, and expressive writing in a workbook format. Measures of self-forgiveness, acceptance, self-improvement, and optimism/pessimism were collected before and after participation. Using Analysis of Covariance to control initial levels, post-session levels showed that Restore participants scored higher than wait-list controls on self-forgiveness (F(1,78) = 9.85, p < .001), acceptance (F(1,77) = 4.84, p < .05), and self-improvement (F(1,79) = 5.28, p < .05) and lower than wait-list controls on pessimism (F(1,77) = 5.01, p < .05). Changes in acceptance, self-improvement, and pessimism mediate the Restore effect on self-forgiveness (Beta = -.08, p < .05). This is the first known brief, evidence-based program for facilitating self-forgiveness in patients with self-forgiveness issues.
Keywords: cancer; education; psycho-spiritual; randomized trial; self-acceptance; self-forgiveness; self-improvement.