Patients Living With Breast Cancer During the Coronavirus Pandemic: The Role of Family Resilience, Coping Flexibility, and Locus of Control on Affective Responses.

Eleonora Brivio,Paolo Guiddi,Greta Pettini,Alice V Giudice,Ludovica Scotto,Florence Didier,Gabriella Pravettoni,Derna Busacchio,Ketti Mazzocco

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.567230

Eleonora Brivio, Paolo Guiddi + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.567230

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Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has strongly affected oncology patients. Many screening and treatment programs have been postponed or canceled, and such patients also experience fear of increased risk of exposure to the virus. In many cases, locus of control, coping flexibility, and perception of a supportive environment, specifically family resilience, can allow for positive emotional outcomes for individuals managing complex health conditions like cancer. This study aims to determine if family resilience, coping flexibility, and locus of control can mitigate the negative affect caused by the pandemic and enhance positive affect in breast cancer patients. One hundred and fifty-four female patients with breast cancer completed the Walsh’s Family Resilience Questionnaire, the Perceived Ability to Cope With Trauma Scale, the Positive-Negative Affect Schedule, and the Mini Locus of Control Scale. Family resilience and internality of locus of control contribute significantly to positive affective responses. Family resilience is responsible for mitigating the negative affect perceived during the pandemic and is enhanced by external locus of control. Evidence suggests that clinical psychologists should develop and propose programs to support oncology patients’ family resilience, coping flexibility, and internal locus of control, allowing for decreased stress and improved adaptability for effectively managing cancer treatment during the pandemic.

Highlights

Since late February 2020, Italy has been drastically affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, resulting in approximately 229,300 positive cases and 33,000 deaths (World Health Organization, 2020)
Positive affect correlates adequately with all the other variables included in the analysis, except for the chance dimension of the locus of control (LOC_C)
Negative affect is significantly correlated with all the variables considered

Summary

Introduction

Since late February 2020, Italy has been drastically affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, resulting in approximately 229,300 positive cases and 33,000 deaths (World Health Organization, 2020). The pandemic has required a restructuring of the hospital system and suspension of all non-essential health services to better manage the influx of COVID19 patients while reducing potential exposure to uninfected patients (Curigliano et al, 2020; van de Haar et al, 2020). Oncology patients have been more strongly impacted by the pandemic, because of the fear and panic of increased risk of infection (Casanova et al, 2020; Mark and Lewis, 2020; Romeo et al, 2020) and because many treatment and screening programs have been postponed or canceled until the spread of the virus is stabilized, potentially compromising the affective states of these patients. The Double ABC-X model (McCubbin and Patterson, 1983) explains that the interaction between the traumatic event and subsequent life stressors is determined by perceptions of family support, coping strategies, and locus of control

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