Estudo clínico sobre o impacto da qualidade de vida, do suporte e do estilo de coping no "estatuto" de sobrevivente de cancro

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the psychosocial needs of a population increasingly appearing in health care - the survivors of cancer. Aimed to observe the "status" of a survivor of cancer, expressed by the number of years since diagnosis, and describe it in relation to quality of life variables, social support and coping style. They were then objectives: a) explore the effect of predictor variables quality of life, social support and coping style in the "status" of cancer survivor and b) explore what the best predictor of the "status" of surviving cancer. The "status" of surviving cancer was defined as the dependent variable and quality of life, social support and coping style as independent variables. Participants were 45 female patients of the Oncology Unit of Hospital de São Marcos in Braga, aged between 35 and 78 years, the average being 55.6 years, suffering from different types of cancer, mostely Breast Cancer (82.2%) and cancer of the cervix (8.9%). Was administered the brief version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-Bref) (overall quality of life and the physical, psychological, social relationships and environment) to assess the quality of life, Escala de Satisfação com o Suporte Social (ESSS) (subscales satisfaction with friendships, intimacy, satisfaction with family and social activities) to assess social support, and the Brief COPE (subscales active coping, planning, using instrumental support, emotional support use, religion, positive reinterpretation, self-blame, acceptance, expression, feelings, denial, self-distraction, behavioral disinvestment, substance use and mood) to assess coping style. We used a Multiple Linear Regression Analysis stpwise method to predict the dependent variable from independent variables. The results showed that the predictor variables that have effect on the "status" of surviving cancer were the denial subscale of the Brief COPE and the intimacy subscale of the ESSS. It was concluded that cancer survivors have difficulties related to the denial of the reality of his illness and the low perception of the existence of intimate social support and benefit from psychosocial interventions targeted to them.

Date of Award	20 Dec 2011
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Rui Alexandre Devesa Ramos (Supervisor)