Relationship of Psychosocial Problems and Coping Strategies among Breast Cancer Patients: A Descriptive Survey

Abstract

Breast cancer is the 2nd most frequent cancer among Indian women. The incidence is more in urban women as compared to rural women. The incidence rate varies from 22–28/100,000 women per year in urban areas to 6 per 100,000 women/year in rural areas. A descriptive survey method and purposive sampling technique were used to select 100 female patients undergoing treatment of breast cancer for the present study. A self-structured interview schedule was prepared to assess psychosocial problems and a checklist was prepared to assess the coping strategies among breast cancer patients. The findings revealed that 53 (53%) breast cancer patients had mild psychosocial problems and 47 (47%) breast cancer patients had minor psychosocial problems, in which psychosocial problems ranked 1st with a mean score of 15.76 (65.67%) and financial problems ranked 4th with a mean score of 1.47 (18.38%). The majority (75%) of patients used maladaptive and 25% were using adaptive coping strategies. Age, marital status, family income, type of family, religion, education, occupation, family history of breast cancer, duration of illness, stage of breast cancer, type of treatment, and source of information had no impact on coping strategies among breast cancer patients. Thus, the study concluded that breast cancer patients had high psychosocial problems with the use of maladaptive coping strategies. Some interventions can be planned to manage the psychosocial problems of cancer patients.