title: Self-blame and adjustment to breast cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the relationship between self-blame and illness adjustment in women with breast cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive, correlational design.
  
  
  METHODS
  Outpatient facilities of two metropolitan medical centers.
  
  
  METHODS
  234 women diagnosed with stage I or II breast cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Structured and semistructured interviews using the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale (PAIS), the Global Adjustment to Illness Scale (GAIS), an attributions and blame interview, and several questions about control over the cause and course of the cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Self-blame, controllability, and adjustment to illness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  39% of the sample reported some self-blame. Analysis of variance indicated that subjects with high levels of self-blame had poorer scores on the PAIS and GAIS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings indicate the need for further study of the self-blame/adjustment relationship. Researchers must clarify the characteristics that compromise adjustment in patients with breast cancer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings support the importance of assessing self-blame and providing information to discourage its use by patients with breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in Philadelphia, USA.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Houldin
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jacobsen
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Lowery
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006167:Guilt; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008875:Middle Aged; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric