Premium
Traumatic stress symptoms among women with recently diagnosed primary breast cancer
Author(s) -
Koopman Cheryl,
Butler Lisa D.,
Classen Catherine,
GieseDavis Janine,
Morrow Gary R.,
Westendorf Joan,
Banerjee Tarit,
Spiegel David
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1023/a:1016295610660
Subject(s) - breast cancer , psychosocial , medicine , traumatic stress , cancer , clinical psychology , psychiatry
This study examined the concurrent and longitudinal relationships between traumatic stress symptoms and demographic, medical, and psychosocial variables among women recently diagnosed with primary breast cancer. Participants were 117 women drawn from a parent study for women recently diagnosed with primary breast cancer. At baseline, the Impact of Event Scale (IES) total score was related to intensity of postsurgical treatment and lower emotional self‐efficacy. At the 6‐month follow‐up, the IES total score was significantly related to younger age, to the increased impact of the illness on life, and to the baseline IES total score assessment. These results suggest that it is important to intervene for traumatic stress symptoms soon after the diagnosis of breast cancer. Furthermore, these results suggest women at greatest risk are those who are younger, who receive postsurgical cancer treatment, who are low in emotional self‐efficacy and whose lives are most affected by having cancer.