title: Patient-reported stressful events and coping strategies in post-menopausal women with breast cancer.
abstract: The objective of this paper was to explore what stressful events post-menopausal women with primary or recurrent breast cancer experience, how bothersome these events were and which coping strategies these women used. Data were collected from 131 patients diagnosed with primary or recurrent breast cancer. The Daily Coping Assessment was used. Thematic analysis was applied to form themes of stressful events. Six types of stressful events were extracted. The most frequently experienced events for women with primary cancer and those with recurrent cancer were 'distressing bodily symptoms'. The most bothersome event among primary cancer was 'everyday concerns' and in the recurrent group, 'distressing psychological reactions'. The most commonly used strategies were 'acceptance', 'distraction' and 'relaxation'. This study shows that women in different parts of the cancer trajectory differ in what they perceive to be stressful events when reporting them in their own words in a diary. The differences have an impact on the subsequent coping strategies they used.
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Education, University of Skövde, Skövde, Sweden.|Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Nursing, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Browall
authors.affiliation: Research and Development Centre, Skaraborg Hospital, Skövde, Sweden.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kenne Sarenmalm
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Caring Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy at Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: L-O
authors.initials: LO
authors.lastname: Persson
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Nursing, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wengström
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gaston-Johansson
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D017698:Postmenopause; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011788:Quality of Life; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden
keywords: breast cancer; coping strategies; diary; level of bother; post-menopausal; stressful events