A new study has revealed that despite missing medical follow-ups due to the COVID-19 pandemic, breast cancer survivors with high psychological resilience and spiritual well-being or SWB show lower fear of cancer recurrence.
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| Photo: Psychological Resilience in Breast Cancer Patients | InStyleHealth |
Experts enrolled 82 non-metastatic breast cancer
patients with an average age of 43.2 years old who had undergone primary
treatment and whose monitoring had been suspended due to COVID-19. FCR or fear
of cancer recurrence inventory-short form (FCRI-SF), SWB scale, and brief
resilience scale or BRS were utilized to evaluate psychological status.
Average scores on the FCRI-SF, SWB scale, and BRS
scale were 17.77, 36.20, and 20.01, correspondingly. None of the scores
associated significantly with participant sociodemographic characteristics.
However, experts have detected interactions among the
three test results. SWB and BSR scores, for instance, were significantly and
positively associated with each other, while FCRI-SF was inversely correlated
with both BRS and SWB.
Using the hierarchical linear regression analysis,
setting FCRI-SF as the dependent variable, revealed that SWB significantly
affected FCR. Subsequent mediation analysis also confirmed the interactions
among the test results and additionally showed that SWB mediated the
relationship between psychological resilience FCR.
Researchers said that approaches which increase the
psychological resilience and spirituality of patients diagnosed with breast
cancer should be developed. Further studies are needed to identify
interventions that can improve coping strategies in at-risk individuals.
Source: Psychooncology 2021;doi:10.1002/pon.5727