The Relationship of Self-Differentiation and Cognitive Emotion Regulation with Quality of Life in Women with Breast Cancer

Breast cancer may potentially affect women’s daily life, including their physical activities, career and social life. Self-differentiation and cognitive emotion regulation are key factors in coping with the disease. Thus, knowledge of these factors may be of value in improving the quality of life. This study aimed to examine the relationship of self-differentiation and cognitive emotion regulation strategies with the quality of life in women with breast cancer.
This cross-sectional study recruited 200 women from a statistical population of women with breast cancer presenting to Imam Hussein Hospital who were selected according to the Cochran’s formula. Data for this descriptive-correlation study were collected through questionnaires of Quality of Life Scale (SF-12), Self-differentiation (DSI-SF-20), and Cognitive Emotion Regulation (CERQ-18). Data were analyzed by backward regression analysis in SPSS20 software.
Patients’ mean age was 42.10 ± 3.64 years (range: 30-50 years). Adaptive, maladaptive or both strategies were used by 39.5%, 54.5% and 6% of the participants, respectively. Furthermore, regression analysis revealed the significant relationship of self-differentiation and cognitive emotion eegulation strategies with mental and physical dimensions of the quality of life (p-value = 0.001). Regression analysis results showed self-differentiation, and cognitive emotion regulation significantly predicted 23% of the variance of physical dimension and 35% of the variance of mental dimension of the quality of life, while the remaining belonged to other variables.
According to the results, a reduction in self-differentiation of patients increases maladaptive strategies and consequently reduces their quality of life. Therefore, more precise planning for educational and supportive interventions appears necessary for reducing maladaptive strategies and improving quality of life.