SUBJECTIVE AGE AND SUBJECTIVE EVALUATION OF THE HEALTH OF WOMEN WITH BREAST CANCER

Abstract

This article is devoted to the results of the study of the relationship between subjective age and subjective assessment of health among women with breast cancer. The analysis of the literature showed that subjective age is a predictor of death, mental wellness, assessment of life prospects (approach of death), possibility of coping with a bad trauma (e.g. oncological disease). The research included 170 women in the age of 31 to 85 (the average age is 56,5) diagnosed with breast cancer on different stages. Summarising received data, it should be noted that the women who feel rather danger than their chronological age address to own resources and, in general their subjective health assessment is connected with role functioning based on the emotional condition and general mental health. The women with adequate perception of their age have issues with role functioning connected with physical condition as well as the women who feel older than they actually are do. The results of this research expand a notion about potential predictors for breast cancer course, besides the results can be used for building the forecast of the disease course and its outcome.