A longitudinal study on the changes in the self‐efficacy of breast cancer patients during adjuvant chemotherapy

Abstract

Abstract Aim We aimed to investigate the changes in the self‐efficacy of patients with breast cancer (BC) during adjuvant chemotherapy. Design A longitudinal study was conducted. Methods One hundred thirty patients with BC who underwent postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy at a medical centre in northern Taiwan were evaluated using self‐efficacy survey tools before the first (T1), second (T2) and last (T3) cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy. The independent t‐test, Kruskal–Wallis test, one‐way analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation coefficient and generalized estimating equation were used for data analysis. Results The self‐efficacy measures of patients with BC were significantly higher at both T2 and T3 than at T1 (p < 0.001). Religious beliefs and changes in self‐efficacy showed a significant correlation (p = 0.04). These findings will facilitate timely interventional measures to improve self‐efficacy in patients with maladaptive behaviours, alleviate psychological distress and reduce the risk of future disease recurrence.

Keywords

• adjuvant chemotherapy
• breast cancer
• generalized linear model
• longitudinal study
• self‐efficacy