The analysis of the relationship between marital adjustment and coping strategies in married women with breast cancer

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The breast cancer occur crisis by the women on physical, psychological and social area. It have been reported that social support is very effective to cope with crises of women especially support by spouses of women with breast cancer. The marital adjustment is important predictor to perceive social support and coping with stressors of women with breast cancer. This paper reports relationship between marital adjustment and coping strategies in married women with breast cancer. METHOD: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between marital adjustment and coping strategies in married women with breast cancer. The sample of study included 50 women with breast cancer who have been treated in an Oncology Hospital in Turkey and 50 in the general surgical service of the same hospital treated non- cancer. In the study three instruments were used: Descriptive Knowledge Form, Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spainer, 1976), and Ways of Coping Inventory (Folkman & Lazarus, 1984).The data were evaluated chi Square test, Mann Whitney- U and Correlation Analysis. RESULTS: It was found that there were not statistically significant differences between the socio demographic characteristics of the women with breast cancer and non-breast cancer except the living city characteristic. A positive correlation was found between the scores of marital adjustment and effective coping way in the correlation analysis. (r = 0.32, p < 0.05). There is also a negative correlation between the scores of marital adjustment and ineffective coping way with the percentage 38%. (r = -0.38, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study has identified that women with breast cancer can cope more effectively and less ineffectively as the marital adjustment of the couple increases. The marital adjustment could be a predictor to assessment perceived social support of the women with breast cancer which is necessary for coping with cancer related problems. Given the fact the cancer is a not personal but a family disease, the health care providers can identify the easier the women's problems and origin of them. According to this identification they could give more effective psychological support to women with breast cancer. RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS: Based on these conclusions, it suggested to select the sample of control group except the patients without any breast disease that it could effect similar worrys and coping problems with the cancer patients. It suggested too that next research could structured about the relationship between positive thinking, coping and marital adjustment to identify better if the positive thinking effects both of them. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Based on these conclusions, it suggested that to assessment the relationship between coping and marital adjustment and to provide family counseling if the marital adjustment has been perceived less by the women with cancer. Family counseling can be used in cancer care especially when the women with breast cancer have problems with coping of cancer experiences. The health professional in cancer care can use the results of study to prevent the possible coping problems.