Objective To explore the application effects of solution-focused brief therapy combined with mindfulness training in young and middle-aged patients with thyroid cancer treated with surgery.

Methods A non-concurrent control study was conducted. Forty-six patients admitted from April to October 2023 were served as the control group, and another 46 patients admitted from November 2023 to April 2024 were served as the observation group. The control group were given conventional surgical care for thyroid cancer, while the observation group were intervened with solution-focused short-course treatment combined with mindfulness training. Before the intervention and after 4 weeks of intervention, the patients were evaluated using the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), Self-Care Ability Scale (ESCA), and General Well-being Scale (GWB).

Results After the intervention, the SAS and SDS scores in the observation group were significantly lower than those in control group (P ＜ 0.01), and the scores of each dimension of ESCA and GWB in the observation group were higher than those in control group (P ＜ 0.01).

Conclusions Solution-focused brief therapy combined with mindfulness training can improve anxiety and depression in young and middle-aged patients with thyroid cancer, enhance their self-care ability and increase their sense of well-being.