Coping mechanisms and support groups: women with cervical cancer

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

A diagnosis of cervical cancer creates such great stress for a woman that she may not be able to cope well with the symptoms of the disease. Social support groups have been extensively documented to be effective in improving coping and quality of life of persons with cancer or other illnesses. The main objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of social support groups on women newly diagnosed with cervical cancer in Tanzania and their ways of coping. The hypotheses of this study were: (1) Women receiving formal social support would use adaptive coping strategies more than women not receiving formal social support. (2) Women receiving formal social support would use maladaptive coping strategies less than women not receiving formal social support. The illness-coping and quality of life model guided the study. A six-point control group time series design was used to investigate the effectiveness of formal social support on ways of coping of women newly diagnosed with cervical cancer, utilizing a validated tool. Formal social support groups were administered for a period of six months. This study revealed that before the intervention (provision of formal social support) there were no significant differences in the women's ways of coping with the disease. However, after the intervention there were significant differences found in the ways the subjects coped. Significant differences were found in the use of seven out of eight coping strategies between the experimental and control groups. These findings contribute to knowledge and understanding of complex coping mechanisms of women with cervical cancer, especially Tanzanians. The findings should enable health professionals, including nurses, to carry on with the facilitation of already established social support groups, and even multiply the groups within the country in order to improve the wellbeing of women with cervical cancer.