Patterns of Coping With Cancer

We identified five patterns of coping in a sample of 603 cancer patients: "seeking or using social support," "focusing on the positive," "distancing," "cognitive escape-avoidance," and "behavioral escape-avoidance." Relationships of these coping patt...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health psychology 1992, Vol.11 (2), p.79-87
Main Authors: Dunkel-Schetter, Christine, Feinstein, Lawrence G, Taylor, Shelley E, Falke, Roberta L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Age Factors
Attitude to Health
Chronic Disease
Coping Behavior
Educational Status
Female
Human
Humans
Life Change Events
Male
Middle Aged
Neoplasms
Neoplasms - psychology
Probability
Regression Analysis
Self-Help Groups
Sex Factors
Social Support
Stress, Psychological - psychology
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Summary:We identified five patterns of coping in a sample of 603 cancer patients: "seeking or using social support," "focusing on the positive," "distancing," "cognitive escape-avoidance," and "behavioral escape-avoidance." Relationships of these coping patterns to sociodemographic characteristics, medical factors, stress appraisals, psychotherapeutic experience, and emotional distress were tested using correlational and regression techniques. Type of cancer, time since diagnosis, and whether a person was currently in treatment had few or no relationships to coping. The specific cancer-related problem (e.g., pain, fear of future) was also not associated with how individuals coped. Perceptions of its stressfulness, however, were related to significantly more coping through social support and more of both forms of escape-avoidance. Coping through social support, focusing on the positive, and distancing was associated with less emotional distress, whereas using cognitive and behavioral escape-avoidance was associated with more emotional distress. Implications of the results for understanding coping processes and intervention with cancer patients are discussed. Key words: coping, cancer, adjustment to illness, stress
ISSN:0278-6133
1930-7810
DOI:10.1037/0278-6133.11.2.79