Coping Skills Improve Quality of Life in Women with Breast Cancer and Maladaptive Coping Style

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer (BC) is a common malignancy among women. BC is a stressor in life that affects coping strategies and quality of life. This study performed to improve the quality of life in women with maladaptive coping style. Methods: A randomized clinical trial, held in 2011. Patients with maladaptive coping strategy were included in the study. 62 patients were randomized into two groups. Before and after 8 weeks of coping therapy, the quality of life was measured. General linear model was used for analysis. Results: The mean age in the intervention and control group was 45.10±7.34, 46.52±6.20 respectively (P-value>0.5). Functional health significantly improved after the intervention (p-value<0.005), but in the control it decreased (p-value=0.029). Symptom health between the two groups demonstrated no difference before and after intervention. General health improved in the intervention group (p-value=0.017). However, in the control group it was not significant (p-value=0.128). Problem-focused coping strategies in the intervention group improved markedly (p-value= 0.003) whereas, the control group did not reveal significant differences (p-value=0.196). Conclusion: The results showed that the coping skill training program can improve the overall quality of life of breast cancer in women, and indicated that the care of breast cancer should address psychological issues and the finding points to the importance of taking individual coping strategies into account when evaluating the impact of breast cancer on psychosocial well-being.