Evaluation of Quality of Life, Social Support and Coping Strategies and Illness Adjustment in Patients with Breast Cancer: A Cross-sectional Study

Breast cancer patients experience physical and emotional distress due to their diagnosis and treatment of their disease.

This study aimed to assess the quality of life (QOL), social support and coping strategies, illness adjustment among breast cancer patients, and the type of breast surgery.

We conducted a cross-sectional study at hospitals in Zahedan, Iran, in 2020. We recruited 120 patients with breast cancer by census method. Data collection tools were the breast cancer-specific module (QLQ-BR 23), The adjustment to illness measurement inventory for Iranian women with breast cancer (AIMI-IBC), and the multidimensional scale of perceived social support (MSPSS) questionnaires. We performed the statistical analysis in SPSS software version 19.0.

The mean age of patients in this survey was 47.35 ± 10.67 years. 53.3% of patients underwent a mastectomy, 34.2% had a lumpectomy, and 12.5% of patients had not been surgery. Patients on the functioning scale reported high scores for body image (78.61 ± 26.69) and future perspective (55.27 ± 26.71). Patients on the symptom scale had a high score upset by hair loss (49.16 ± 38.88). Also, the mean score of total social support was 45.71 ± 9.92. in addition, they used the reasonable efforts coping strategy (4.07 ± 0.35), and the mean score of illness adjustment was 150.91 ± 16.29.

The results of this study indicated that breast cancer patients received a high social support level, especially from family members, and had a high degree of adjustment to their illness. Also, patients were more upset about their hair loss and body image. Therefore, early disease detection can improve breast cancer women's quality of life and disease adaptation.