Association between quality of life and positive coping strategies in breast cancer patients

ABSTRACT

According to the World Health Organization, breast cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers in the Hispanic female population, and it carries a great psychological impact. Acceptance and personal learning derived from the individual’s life experiences and understanding of their emotional state has been suggested as an adaptive profile toward the patient’s perception of the disease. This study aims to explore which psychological variables are related to breast cancer patients’ perception of their quality of life. A cross-sectional, correlational, and non-probabilistic study was performed on 113 women diagnosed with stage 1–3 breast cancer in Mexico and Spain, based on self-reporting through the Mental Adjustment to Cancer Scale, the Positive and Negative Affect Scale, and the EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire. Recruitment was conducted from March 2015 to April 2018. Through multiple regression analysis, the study found that fighting spirit and positive affect explained 34.2% of quality of life variance F (2, 110) = 30.14, p <.005 of participants. The results support the need to contemplate the importance of positive psychological variables for a multidisciplinary approach to women diagnosed with breast cancer.

KEYWORDS:

• Breast cancer
• coping strategies
• fighting spirit
• positive affect
• quality of life

Acknowledgments

The authors thank all the individuals involved in the assessments of the patients included in the study: Itzel Alfaro-Espejel, Nayeli Gómez-Cervantes, Carolina Torres-Urquiza, Mariana Álvarez-Munguía, Joseline González-Torres, Gabriela Caballero-Andrade, Alejandro Angulo-Domínguez, Alicia Cayón-Mayett, Erika Gutiérrez-López, Tania Tecpanecatl-Ortega, Pablo Campillo-Dávila, Elisabeth Berzal-Pérez, Lorena Salas-Costumero, Jesús López-Tofiño.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.