Psychosocial factors of emotional adaptation in women with breast cancer

Abstract

Rak dojke je najčešća vrsta raka kod žena, kako u svijetu, tako i u Republici Hrvatskoj te je bilo relevantno istražiti kakav pogled one imaju na svoju bolest (rak dojke) kroz neke psihosocijalne čimbenike. Cilj istraživanja bio je ispitati psihosocijalne čimbenike emocionalne prilagodbe u žena oboljelih od raka dojke odnosno ispitivan je stupanj percepcije bolesti, pozitivnih i negativnih emocionalnih doživljaja te socijalne podrške kod istih. Istraživanje je provedeno unutar udruge ˝Sve za nju˝ na uzorku od 102 sudionice. Za procjenu je korišten upitnik koji se sastojao od četiri dijela: opći podaci, Upitnik percepcije bolesti (Broadbent, Petrie, Main i Weinman, 2005), Skala pozitivnih i negativnih emocija (Diener, Wirtz, Tov, Kim-Prieto, Choi, Oishi i Biswas-Diener, 2010) te Ljestvica za procjenu stupnja socijalne podrške (Abbey, Abramis i Caplan, 1985). Rezultati su pokazali kako žene oboljele od raka dojke smatraju da liječenje pomaže kod bolesti te dobro razumiju svoju bolest. Također, pokazuju da pozitivnih emocionalnih doživljaja imaju više nego negativnih te da imaju visoku socijalnu podršku. Rezultati linerane regresije pokazali su se značajni u predviđanju kriterija, odnosno promatrane prediktorske varijable, socijalna podrška, emocionalna i kognitivna percepcija bolesti, objašnjavaju ukupno 35% varijance varijable pozitivnih emocionalnih doživljaja te 39% varijance negativnih emocionalnih doživljaja. Koeficijenti korelacije pokazuju da je socijalna podrška povezana s pozitivnim i negativnim emocionalnim doživljajima i emocionalnom percepcijom bolesti, odnosno više socijalne podrške znači manje negativnih doživljaja, a bolju emocionalnu percepciju bolesti i više pozitivnih doživljaja. Dobiveni rezultati moći će se koristiti za poboljšanje psihološke pomoći oboljelim ženama.Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women, both in the world and in the Republic of Croatia, and it was relevant to investigate the kind of view they have on their disease (breast cancer) through some psychosocial factors. The aim of the research was to examine the psychosocial factors of emotional adaptation in women with breast cancer, ie the degree of perception of the disease, the positive and the negative emotional experiences and the social support of the same. The research was conducted within the "All for Her" association on a sample of 102 participants. A four-part questionnaire was used for the assessment: general data, Disease Perception Questionnaire (Broadbent, Petrie, Main and Weinman, 2005), Positive and Negative Emotional Scale (Diener, Wirtz, Tov, Kim-Prieto, Choi, Oishi and BiswasDiener, 2010) and the Social Assistance Assessment Scheme (Abbey, Abramis and Caplan, 1985). The results showed that women suffering from breast cancer believe that treatment helps the disease and understand well their illness. They also show that there experience more positive emotional experiences than negative and have high social support. The results of linear regression analyis have been shown to be significant in predicting the criteria, ie observed predictor variables, social support, emotional and cognitive perception of the disease, explaining a total of 35% variance of positive emotional variables and 39% variance of negative emotional experiences. Correlation coefficients show that social support is associated with positive and negative emotional experiences and emotional perception of disease or more social support means less negative experiences, better emotional perception of illness and more positive experiences. The results obtained will be used to improve psychological assistance to affected women