title: The Mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer (Mini-MAC) scale: construct validation with a Greek sample of breast cancer patients.
abstract: This investigation is a Greek validation of the Mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer (Mini-MAC) scale, an instrument derived from the MAC and designed to measure styles of coping with cancer. A sample of 225 women diagnosed with breast cancer completed this questionnaire. Statistical analyses using structural equation modeling (SEM) confirmed Watson's original five first-order factors underlying Mini-MAC items: Helplessness/Hopelessness (HH), Anxious Preoccupation (AP), Fighting Spirit (FS), Avoidance (AV) and Fatalism (F). On a higher-order level, SEM and Multidimensional Scaling revealed two second-order factors: adaptive coping (being measured by FS, AV, and F) and maladaptive coping (being measured by HH and AP). Results are discussed in terms of the theoretical framework needed to account for the relationships among Mini-MAC factors and the refinement of the applications of SEM in the study of the mental adjustment to cancer construct.
authors.affiliation: Psycho-Oncology Service, Department of Psychology, Metaxa Cancer Hospital and Panteion University, 136 Syngrou Avenue, 176-71 Athens, Greece. fganagn@hol.gr
authors.forename: Fotios
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Anagnostopoulos
authors.forename: Philippa
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kolokotroni
authors.forename: Efrosyni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Spanea
authors.forename: Minas
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chryssochoou
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D012917:Social Adjustment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires