Experiencing anxiety in breast cancer survival: Does perceived emotional intelligence matter?

Background The specialized literature shows that breast cancer (BC) survivors have a certain vulnerability to express anxiety about the changes that the disease entails in their lives. Breast cancer is a specific adverse circumstance, but women who have not experienced this disease may also be expos...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psycho-oncology (Chichester, England) England), 2023-06, Vol.32 (6), p.972-979
Main Authors: Ruiz‐González, Paula, Guil, Rocío
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adjustment
Anxiety
Anxiety - psychology
Breast cancer
Breast Neoplasms - psychology
cancer
Depression - psychology
emotional attention
emotional clarity
Emotional distress
Emotional Intelligence
emotional repair
Emotions
Female
Humans
Indirect effects
mediation analysis
oncology
perceived emotional intelligence
Psychological distress
Survivor
survivorship
Women
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Summary:Background The specialized literature shows that breast cancer (BC) survivors have a certain vulnerability to express anxiety about the changes that the disease entails in their lives. Breast cancer is a specific adverse circumstance, but women who have not experienced this disease may also be exposed to other anxiety‐provoking life crises. In both cases, perceived emotional intelligence (PEI)—consisting of emotional attention (EA), emotional clarity (EC), and emotional repair (ER)—seems to impact on such emotional distress. Objective To identify the mechanism through which PEI may mediate the relationship between BC survivorship, compared to a controlled group, and anxiety. Methods 636 women were divided into two groups: 56 BC survivors and 580 healthy controls. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Trait Meta‐Mood Scale were administered. Results BC survivors differed from the control group in showing lower levels of EA and higher levels of ER. The global mediation model showed an explanatory capacity of 27% on anxiety (p = 0.000). Four significant indirect effects were obtained: two acted as risk pathways and the other two as protective pathways. The strongest effect indicated an increase in anxiety in BC survivors due to the mediated effect of low EA and EC. Conclusions Knowing the impact of PEI on anxiety on disease survival could be the empirical basis for developing interventions to improve psychological adjustment at the end of treatments.
ISSN:1057-9249
1099-1611
DOI:10.1002/pon.6140