The effect of cognitive emotion regulation strategies on gynecologic oncology: comparison between a clinical and a non-clinical sample

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to examine the differences of cognitive emotion regulation (CER) strategies between patients with gynecologic cancer and non-clinical individuals.

Methods: A cohort of 329 female adults was recruited in this study. About 179 patients with gynecologic cancer were allocated to the clinical group and 150 healthy women were allocated to the non-clinical group. All the participants completed a demographic survey and the Chinese version of Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ-C).

Results: There were statistically significant group differences in the CER strategies used between the two groups. The most prevalent discrepancies of the CER strategies across the two samples were the self-blame, rumination, putting into perspective, catastrophizing, and blaming others. Further logistic regression analyzes indicated that these four strategies have significant and independent contributions to the prediction of group membership. In particular, a higher reported use of self-blame and blaming others, and a lower reported use of acceptance and putting into perspective, were observed for the clinical group. The CER strategies in the clinical group, which differentiated it from the non-clinical group, accounted for 23.9% of the variance, after controlling for the non-dominant variables.

Conclusion: The implications of certain CER strategies may be a useful target for prevention and intervention of psychological distress on patients with gynecologic cancer.

Keywords:

• Gynecologic oncology
• cognitive strategies
• emotion regulation
• clinical group
• non-clinical group

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the people who participated in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Current knowledge on the subject

• The diagnosis and treatment of gynecologic cancer are stressful experiences that can evoke a variety of negative emotions and broader affective experiences such as anxiety, sadness, anger, guilt, and fear of death and suffering.

• People who experience more stressful events than others have a tendency to develop more maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies.

• Use of adaptive coping targeting adjustment and avoiding use of maladaptive coping were related to better psychological well-being and physical health.

What this study adds

• This study indicates that the clinical and non-clinical groups have exhibited substantial differences upon the investigation of CER strategies.

• A higher reported use of the self-blame, blaming others strategies, and a lower reported use of the putting into perspective and acceptance strategies independently contributed to the prediction of clinical versus non-clinical group memberships.

• Conscious cognitive emotion regulation strategies may be used in patients with gynecologic cancer when handling diagnosis and treatment of the disease.