BACKGROUND: The diagnosis and treatment of early-stage breast cancer can interrupt ongoing goal-directed behaviour, and disrupt or completely block the pursuit of important personal goals. Symptoms of pain, fatigue, and insomnia are common across different treatments. Patients who report this particular cluster of symptoms are highly susceptible to functional impairment and poor psychological outcomes. This prospective study sought to better understand the relationship between physical symptoms and personal goal pursuit in breast cancer patients over time. METHOD: Forty-three women recently diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer provided self-report data at 1, 2, 4 and 6 months post-surgery. Questionnaires assessed physical symptoms, cancerrelated goal interference, and psychological distress. Non-parametric correlations, cluster analysis and one-way analysis of variance were conducted to test the study hypotheses. RESULTS: The 5 most prevalent symptoms at each time-point were pain, difficulty sleeping, lack of energy, feeling drowsy and difficulty concentrating. Goal interference was significantly correlated with pain at T1, difficulty sleeping and feeling drowsy at T2, lack of energy at T2-T4, and difficulty concentrating at T1- T4. Women in the moderate-to-high symptom cluster had significantly higher average goal interference, depression, anxiety and stress than women in the low-to-moderate cluster at each time-point. CONCLUSIONS: These novel findings indicate that common treatment-related physical symptoms differentially impact on the personal goal pursuit of breast cancer patients in the months following surgery. As expected, cancer-related goal interference was higher in women experiencing higher combined levels of these symptoms. Women in this subgroup also reported higher levels of psychological distress. RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS: This study provides important insight into the impact of cancer diagnosis and treatment on important goal pursuit, an under-researched topic in oncology. More research is needed to further explore the role of physical symptoms on goal pursuit in the shortand long-term following a cancer diagnosis. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: The findings suggest that women who experience high levels of pain, insomnia and fatigue at one or multiple times following surgery may require ongoing psychosocial support to help them cope with goal interference, disengage from unattainable goals and continue pursuing goals that remain attainable
