Self-transcendence and emotional well-being in women with advanced breast cancer.
Self-transcendence has been associated, in previous studies, with stressful life events and emotional well-being. This study examined the relationships among self-transcendence, emotional well-being, and illness-related distress in women with advanced breast cancer. The study employed a cross-sectional correlational design in a convenience sample (n = 107) of women with Stage IIIb and Stage IV breast cancer. Subjects completed a questionnaire that included Reed's Self-Transcendence Scale; Bradburn's Affect Balance Scale (ABS); a Cognitive Well-Being (CWB) Scale based on work by Campbell, Converse, and Rogers; McCorkle and Young's Symptom Distress Scale (SDS); and the Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS). Data were analyzed using factor analytic structural equations modeling. Self-transcendence decreased illness distress (assessed by the SDS and the KPS) through the mediating effect of emotional well-being (assessed by the ABS and the CWB Scale). Self-transcendence directly affected emotional well-being (beta = 0.69), and emotional well-being had a strong negative effect on illness distress (beta = -0.84). A direct path from self-transcendence to illness distress (beta = -0.31) became nonsignificant (beta = -0.08) when controlling for emotional well-being. Further research using longitudinal data will seek to validate these relationships and to explain how nurses can promote self-transcendence in women with advanced breast cancer, as well as in others with life-threatening illnesses.
Coward
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Center for Women's Health Research, School of Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle.
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000451:nursing / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006803:Human Development; D006801:Humans; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires