Gender difference in hospitalized cancer patients with death rumination disorder and defense styles

Cancer and thestress associated with it have a significant impact onnot onlypublic health, but also on individuals suffering from cancer can make stressful and pressureconditionsfor patients. The aim of this study was to examine the role of gender and death rumination among patients with cancer.

The study was done usingdeath ruminationquestionnaire and defencestylesquestionnaire-60 (DSQ-60). The study was conductedon 200 hospitalized cancer patients. MANOVA test using SPSS was utilized for data analysis. .

According to gender disparity, patients suffering from cancer had high scores in death-exhaust as death rumination. Statistically significant results emerged also on projection (p< 0.05), projective identification(p< 0.01), and withdrawal (p< 0.05) from defencemechanisms. In particular, itwas found that female cancer patients were more likely to engage in death-exhaust, projection, projective identification, and withdrawal styles.

Overall, this report codifies the gender disparity in death ruminationand defencestyles in hospitalizedcancer patients with psychological adjustment in womenwithcancer, suggesting that these might be potential targets of psychological intervention for this population.