Clarifying the Role of Emotional Self-regulation Strategies and Health Anxiety in Predicting Negative and Positive Reactions to Stress, Psychosomatic Symptoms, and Quality of Life Indicators in Women with Breast Cancer

Clarifying the role of emotional self-regulation strategies in women with breast cancer

https://doi.org/10.22122/ijbmc.v11i2.521
Quality of life Breast neoplasms Anxiety Female

Authors

  • Nasrin Goodarzi Health Psychologist, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran AND PhD of Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Karaj Branch, Karaj, Iran, Iran, Islamic Republic of
  • Nasrin Chalakinia
    chalakinian@mums.ac.ir
    Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran, Iran, Islamic Republic of
  • Ali Talaei Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran, Iran, Islamic Republic of
Vol 11, No 2 (2024) [Incomplete Issue]
Quantitative Study(ies)
August 19, 2023
March 2, 2024

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Background: Today, one of the most challenging diseases that mankind is facing is cancer. The present study aimed to explain the prediction model of negative and positive reactions to stress, psychosomatic symptoms, and quality of life (QOL) indicators based on emotional self-regulation strategies (SRS) and health anxiety in women with breast cancer.

Methods: The current research was of a correlational type, which was conducted by structural equation modeling (SEM) using the path analysis method. The statistical population included all women with breast cancer in hospitals of Tehran, Iran, and 485 women with breast cancer, who visited medical centers and hospitals in the second half of 2021, were selected by purposive sampling. The questionnaires used in this research included Psychosomatic Disorders Questionnaire, World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL), Stress Reaction Questionnaire, Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ). In the descriptive part, the data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation (SD), and in the inferential part, Pearson's correlation coefficient and path analysis were used via SPSS and Amos software.

Results: The desired model had a favorable fit in terms of statistics, and it was also found that the emotion regulation strategies and health anxiety were able to provide a meaningful explanation for the paths of predicting positive and negative reactions to stress symptoms to have mental health and QOL [root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.039, goodness of fit index (GFI) = 0.92].

Conclusion: It can be concluded that in the treatment of people with cancer, paying attention to psychological and emotional indicators can be of great importance.