JLE

Bulletin du Cancer

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Coping and adapting to breast cancer: a six-month prospective study Volume 93, numéro 7, Juillet 2006

Auteurs
Centre de guidance, de formations et de services ASBL, Université catholique de Louvain, Grand Place, 43, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, Service de psychopathologie, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Université catholique de Louvain, avenue Hippocrate, 10/2162, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium, Faculté de psychologie et des sciences de l’éducation, Université catholique de Louvain, place du Cardinal-Mercier, 10, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, Laboratoire de psychologie de la santé, Université Victor-Segalen Bordeaux 2, 3ter place de la Victoire, Bordeaux Cedex, France

Aims: To compare ways of coping with breast cancer in acute and chronic periods and to approach their efficiency on psychological adaptation at each time. Methods: Psychometric evaluation of 151 breast cancer women the day before surgery (T1), and of 107 of them 6 months later (T2), with self-rated questionnaires (CHIP Scale, HADS), “t Student” tests, correlation analyses and multiple regression analyses. Results and discussion: The coping scores during the chronic period are related to those observed during the acute period, with a decrease of instrumental strategies and a stability of distraction and palliative coping. Relationships between CHIP and HADS plead for a deleterious impact of palliative coping on the mood in T2 and for a mood protecting effect of distraction in T1 and T2, without impact on anxiety and without effect of the instrumental coping. These hypotheses must take into account the fact that CHIP scores could be ambiguous measures assessing not only coping modes but also adaptation levels.