Differentiating factors of mental adaptation to disease in women treated for gynaecological cancer

Abstract

Kupcewicz Ewa, Olewińska Joanna, Pikus Hanna, Jóżwik Marcin. Differentiating factors of mental adaptation to disease in women treated for gynaecological cancer. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2017;7(11):40-56. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1041024 http://ojs.ukw.edu.pl/index.php/johs/article/view/5004 The journal has had 7 points in Ministry of Science and Higher Education parametric evaluation. Part B item 1223 (26.01.2017). 1223 Journal of Education, Health and Sport eISSN 2391-8306 7 © The Authors 2017; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 05.10.2017. Revised: 12.10.2017. Accepted: 03.11.2017. DIFFERENTIATING FACTORS OF MENTAL ADAPTATION TO DISEASE IN WOMEN TREATED FOR GYNAECOLOGICAL CANCER Ewa Kupcewicz¹, Joanna Olewińska¹, Hanna Pikus², Marcin Jóżwik³ ¹Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Studies, Collegium Medicum University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland ²Department of Multimedia and Computer Graphics, Faculty of Mathematics and Information Technology, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland ³Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Faculty of Medicine, Collegium Medicum, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland Corresponding author: Ewa Kupcewicz, PhD Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Studies, Collegium Medicum University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn M. Oczapowskiego 2 10-082 Olsztyn, Poland tel./fax. 895246154 E-mail address: [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0641-3979 A – research concept and design; B – collection and/or assembly of data; C – data analysis and interpretation; D – writing the article; E – critical revision of the article; F – final approval of article. Ewa Kupcewicz¹ - A, B, C, D, E, F Joanna Olewińska¹ - A, B, C Hanna Pikus² - C, D Marcin Jóżwik⁴ - A, D, E, F DIFFERENTIATING FACTORS OF MENTAL ADAPTATION TO DISEASE IN WOMEN TREATED FOR GYNAECOLOGICAL CANCER ABSTRACT Introduction. Cancerous disease has specific dynamics and requires the patient to be able to cope in a constantly changing situation. Aim of the study. Differentiation analysis of the influence of selected sociodemographic and medical variables on the degree of mental adaptation to disease in the group of women treated for gynecological cancer. Material and methods. The study covered 102 women after hysterectomy due to gynaecologic cancer. Mean age of patients was 56.1 (SD=10.75) years. Data was collected using the Mini-MAC Mental Adaptation to Cancer Scale and the questionnaire of own design. The p level of <0.05 was considered significant. Results. Significant differences were observed between the age of the respondents and the anxiety absorption strategy (H=10.19; p<0.02) and the fighting spirit strategy (H=10.95; p<0.02). The extent of hysterectomy significantly differentiated (H=8.10; p<0.04) the intensification of the strategy of impotence, confusion and passive disease. Larger differences in ways to deal with the disease have been revealed by women who, in addition to hysterectomy, have also been treated for other comorbidities. The differentiation was related to the strategy: fighting spirit (H=14.33; p<0.0008), helplessness/hopelessness (H=16.54; p <0.0003) and positive revalidation (H=10.98; p<0.004). Conclusions. Surveyed women showed a more constructive style of coping with cancer and more frequently used a strategy of fighting spirit and positive revalidation. Familiarity of factors differentiating the level of mental adaptation to cancer can influence the modification of the behavior of patients and be useful in the work of the therapeutic team. Keywords: psychological adaptation, stress, gynaecological cance