Posttraumatic growth and predictor variables in Brazilian women with breast cancer

Abstract

Objective: Breast cancer is the most prevalent oncologic diagnosis given to women all around the world, and can cause diverse psychiatric symptomatologies and damage to the life of its carrier. The concept of posttraumatic growth (PTG) focuses on the perception of a positive change from the experience of a stressing situation. This study’s objective was to evaluate PTG and different predictor variables for women (n=84) with breast cancer in Brazil. Method: On this exploratory study, self-report scales referring to the diagnosis period and oncologic treatment were applied individually. Results: Having a husband/partner, adaptive coping strategies and a religion of identification were found to be predictor variables in different established regressive models. Rumination did not show any correlation to PTG scores, refuting the results of previous studies. The results found in this study confirm previous research as for PTG predictors, except for rumination. Conclusions: Positive changes resulting from experiencing breast cancer are present in Brazilian women and different interventions can be thought of based on the study of predictors.

Keywords

• Posttraumatic growth; breast cancer; social support; rumination; coping.