Coping strategies and self-esteem in women with breast cancer

Abstract

Título: Estrategias de afrontamiento y autoestima en mujeres con cáncer de mama. Resumen: El afrontamiento del diagnóstico de cáncer de mama y el uso de diferentes estrategias es clave para superar esta situación estresante. Diversas variables psicológicas están relacionadas con la manera de afrontar la enfermedad, destacando entre ellas la autoestima. Se analiza la influencia que la edad, de las pacientes con cáncer de mama, pueda tener en las estrategias de afrontamiento ante la enfermedad, analizando si la autoestima influye en el uso de las estrategias y observar la posible interrelación entre estas variables. Se evalúa la autoestima mediante Rosenberg Self-Steem Scale y las estrategias de afrontamiento con la escala COPE-28, en sus versiones españolas. La muestra estaba formada por 121 mujeres, con cáncer de mama, y edades entre los 30 y los 77 años (M = 49.33, DT = 8.90). Los resultados muestran que el afrontamiento activo fue la estrategia más utilizada. Se encontraron relaciones significativas, mediadas por la edad, entre las puntuaciones en autoestima y las estrategias de afrontamiento activas, como son la reevaluación positiva, aceptación o el apoyo emocional. Conocer la manera de afrontar la enfermedad ayudará en el desarrollo de intervenciones psicológicas que mejoren la calidad de vida de estas pacientes durante todo el proceso de enfermedad oncológica. palabras clave: Psicooncología; estrategias psicológicas; afrontamiento activo; reevaluación positive. Abstract:Coping with a breast cancer diagnosis and the use of different strategies is key to overcoming this stressful situation. Various psychological variables are related to how patients cope with the disease, one of which is self-esteem. The current study analyses the how age influences patients with breast cancer in terms of the coping strategies used to deal with the disease, exploring whether self-esteem influences the use of such strategies, along with the possible interrelation between these variables. Self-esteem is studied using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale and coping strategies were assessed using the COPE-28 scale, both in their Spanish versions. The sample consisted of 121 women (with breast cancer), aged between 30 and 77 years (M = 49.33, SD = 8.90). The results indicate that active coping is the strategy with the highest score. We found significant, age-mediated relationships between self-esteem scores and active coping strategies such as positive reframing, acceptance, or use of emotional support. Knowing how to cope with the disease will help in the development of psychological interventions that improve the quality of life in these patients throughout the oncological disease process.

How Should Self-Esteem Be Considered in Cancer Patients?

“…Social support also appears to be strongly related to self-esteem, in line with the sociometer theory, which postulates that selfesteem is an indicator of social inclusion (Leary and Baumeister, 2000). The relationship between social support and self-esteem has been widely studied in cancer patients (Curbow and Somerfield, 1991;Schroevers et al, 2003b;Mingorance et al, 2019;Pardede et al, 2020), and appears to be of prime importance. In particular, it has been shown that positive relationships with others are more strongly correlated with the level of self-esteem in female cancer patients than in age-matched healthy women (Carpenter, 1998).…”

“…Cieślak and Golusiński (2018) showed that greater acceptance of cancer-related disability was associated with high self-esteem. Mingorance et al (2019) also identified that adaptive adjustment strategies (positive reframing, use of emotional support, active coping, acceptance, and planning) in breast cancer patients were associated with high self-esteem. Social support also appears to be strongly related to self-esteem, in line with the sociometer theory, which postulates that selfesteem is an indicator of social inclusion (Leary and Baumeister, 2000).…”

Pre-surgery supportive and goal-oriented strategies are associated with lower post-surgery perceived distress in women diagnosed with breast cancer

“…One of the major limitations is represented by the shortness of the assessment protocol administered. Indeed it should be also noted that, differently from previous literature [ 7 , 20 , 64 , 65 ], our results highlighted that patients’ age and the type of surgery could predict neither growth, nor drop, in patients’ perceived distress. This difference could be explained in light of the brief timespan occurring between pre- and post-surgery assessments in our study.…”

Coping and adaptation of adults with cancer: the art of nursing care

“…Breast cancer was the most prevalent (11), followed by cervical and endometrial cancer, which accounted for the greater participation of the female gender in this study; regarding the male gender, the types of cancer with the greatest presentation were prostate and head and neck cancers. In both sexes, stages II and III were prevalent, while the effects of treatment were significantly more common in adults who received radiotherapy (12).…”