Coping Behavior of Women with Cancer (Case of Patients with Breast Cancer)

The problem of survival and effectiveness of treatment for cancer is an urgent and socially significant task of modern science. Today, medicine is focused on improving the survival rate of patients with malignant neoplasms, increasing their life expectancy, and maintaining the life quality of this category of patients. Support for cancer patients is a priority in medical and psychological research, in which it is particularly important to identify the prerequisites of the disease, survival factors and psychological resources for adaptation to the disease. Breast cancer is accompanied by strong emotional stress, has a psychotraumatic effect on the patient and affects many aspects of life. The role of coping with the diagnosis, as well as with the stress caused by a long treatment process, is currently insufficiently studied. In this regard, the purpose of this work was to study coping behavior in women with breast cancer for a period of up to six months after diagnosis. It was a longitudinal study that last for three years. This article reflects the results of the first section of our study. We have found that women with breast cancer tend to suppress emotional responses and control their own experiences. When studying the age-related features of coping behavior, we found that 30-to 40-year-old women are more likely to use avoiding, social and confrontational coping than older women. Married women prefer to look for positive aspects in the current difficult life conditions, rather than unmarried. Coping behavior of women who have a job differs from coping behavior of women who have no job. The former are more likely to use such strategies as Confrontational coping, Search for social support, Escape-avoidance, Planning a solution to the problem. In addition, we found that the level of education is associated with the choice of coping strategies. For example, women with higher education tend to plan for resolving difficulties, maintain self-control, seek conditional benefits from the current situation, and are more likely to seek social support than women with secondary vocational education. The study of coping behavior in women with breast cancer as part of a longitudinal study reveals the specifics and dynamics of overcoming difficulties at the initial and subsequent stages of treatment. The identified differences will serve as the basis for creating a program for developing coping behavior and a program for psychological support of patients with cancer, as well as for further empirical study of other psychological factors of survival and disease course in patients with malignant neoplasms.

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