An investigation of psychological stress, coping styles/strategies and psychological adjustments in a sample of Indian South African women with breast cancer in different developmental stages of the life-cycle.
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Date
2013
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Abstract
The purpose of this research was to examine some major themes of stress, coping
styles/strategies, and psychological adjustment to breast cancer, of 116 English speaking,
low socioeconomic status Indian South African women at different
developmental stages of the life-cycle.
The sample was drawn from a population of hospital outpatients receiving treatment
for breast cancer at three academic hospitals in Durban, South Africa. Convenience
sampling was employed, and a battery of six questionnaires was completed in
addition to the collection of demographic data. Descriptive statistics, correlational
analysis, multivariate analysis and regression analysis was used to analyse the data.
The results suggested both similarities and differences between the younger and older
groups of patients with regard to the disruption of life-tasks by breast cancer.
However, the younger group, on average, experienced significantly greater disruption
with regard to the following ‘themes of stress’: interpersonal relationships,
achievement-oriented goals/activities, body or sexual image and integrity, and
existential issues. In addition, the younger patients, on average, experienced a greater
degree of overall disruption to life-tasks. The disruption of life-tasks was only
associated with psychological morbidity in the younger patients, and the overall
extent of disruption to life-tasks was shown to directly contribute to the younger
patients’ depressive symptomatology. Both groups demonstrated elevated stress
reactions and psychological symptoms in comparison to norms generally, however
the younger patients demonstrated higher levels of ‘psychological’ stress and
depressive symptomatology. With regard to coping styles, the younger group, on
average, demonstrated a greater prevalence of ‘fighting spirit’ and ‘anxious
preoccupation’, while the older group contained a significantly greater percentage of
patients demonstrating a problematic combination of coping styles. The coping style
‘helpless or hopeless’ was associated with various stress reactions and psychological
symptoms for both groups, although this association was less prevalent for the older
group. The coping strategy ‘escape-avoidance’ was associated with overall
psychological distress only for the younger group. The results suggested that there
may be other, more significant predictor variables for psychological distress in older
breast cancer patients – a potential area for future research.
Description
Ph. D. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2014.
Keywords
Breast--Cancer--South Africa--Psychological aspects., Women patients--South Africa--Psychological aspects., Cancer--South Africa--Psychological aspects., Cancer in women--South Africa--Psychological aspects., Stress (Psychology), Cancer--Patients--South Africa--Psychological aspects., Theses--Behavioural medicine.