Does a self management intervention lower distress in woman diagnosed with breast cancer?

Abstract

Psychological distress is particularly common with any cancer diagnosis. This paper examined the psychological distress in a cohort of women newly diagnosed with breast cancer and postulates on the underlying theory. A longitudinal study of a cohort of women (n=147) diagnosed with breast cancer (within the past 1 year), was conducted at University Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur. Data were collected at baseline and at post 4-week intervention. Analysis of variance was conducted to examine for any significant differences in the change-scores between the experimental group (n=69) and the control group (n=78). Using the change scores, analyses of variance showed significant differences between groups for stress, F(1, 140)=13.68, p