Psychosocial Adjustment between Younger and Older Breast Cancer Survivors

Hye Young Kim; Eun Ko

doi:10.5388/aon.2012.12.4.280

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Kim and Ko: Psychosocial Adjustment between Younger and Older Breast Cancer Survivors

Original Article

Asian Oncology Nursing

Asian Oncology Nursing 2012; 12(4): 280-288.

Published online: 31 December 2012

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5388/aon.2012.12.4.280

Psychosocial Adjustment between Younger and Older Breast Cancer Survivors

Hye Young Kim¹, Eun Ko²

¹School of Nursing, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Korea.

²Department of Nursing, Nambu University, Gwangju, Korea.

Address reprint requests to: Ko, Eun. Department of Nursing, Nambu University, 23 Cheomdanjungang-ro, Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju 506-706, Korea. Tel: +82-62-970-0152, Fax: +82-62-970-0260, koeun@nambu.ac.kr

Received 5 November 2012 Accepted 22 December 2012

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to analyze the differences in psychosocial adjustment between younger (age≤50) and older (age>50) breast cancer survivors, and to explore the role of sociodemographic and disease-related variables in predicting psychosocial adjustment between younger and older breast cancer survivors.

Methods

A total of 262 women participated in this study. A self-reported questionnaire, the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale-Self Report Korean version (PAIS-SR Korean version), was used. Data were analyzed with SAS/WIN 9.1 for descriptive statistics using the t-test, ANOVA, and stepwise multiple regression.

Results

The psychosocial adjustment score of younger breast cancer survivors was significantly higher than that of older breast cancer survivors. Significant predictors influencing psychosocial adjustment in younger breast cancer survivors were marital state, menopausal cause, immune therapy, and self-help group, and these predictors account for 48% of the variance in psychosocial adjustment. Significant predictors influencing psychosocial adjustment in older breast cancer survivors were stage of cancer, monthly income, marital state, and menopausal cause. These predictors accounted for 35% of the variance in psychosocial adjustment.

Conclusion

The findings indicate the importance of counseling and educational programs to improve the psychosocial adjustment according to breast cancer survivors' age.

Keywords: Breast Neoplasms, Survivors, Adjustment

Figures and Tables

Table 1

Psychosocial Adjustment of Breast Cancer Survivors according to Sociodemographic and Disease-related Characteristics (N=262)

^*Younger breast cancer survivors sample size=54, older breast cancer survivors sample size=119.

^a,bScheffe test: Means with the same letter are significantly different.

PAIS-SR=Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale-Self Report.

Table 2

Differences of Psychosocial Adjustment between Younger and Older Breast Cancer Survivors (N=262)

PAIS-SR=Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale-Self Report.

Table 3

Influencing Factors for Psychosocial Adjustment of Younger Breast Cancer Survivors (N=112)

^*Dummy variables (Self-help group: No=0, Immune therapy: No=0, Marrital status: Married=0, Menopausal Cause: Spontaneous=0).

Table 4

Influencing Factors for Psychosocial Adjustment of Older Breast Cancer Survivors (N=150)

^*Dummy variables (Stage of cancer: Stage 1=0, Monthly income : <200=0, Marital status: Married=0, Menopausal Cause: Spontaneous=0).

Notes

This article is an addition based on the first author's doctoral thesis from Chonnam National University.

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