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- Psychological status of women with breast cancer during chemotherapyPublication . Santos, Ana; Silva, Isabel; Guimarães, Raquel; Meneses, RuteA breast cancer diagnosis and corresponding treatments bring several consequences to women at many distinct levels, particularly on a psychological level with the fast change of their routines and even of their bodies. As such, it seems important to understand to what factors women attribute their psychological state during or shortly after chemotherapy. Therefore, it was carried out a qualitative cross-sectional study with the main objective: to comprehend which factors contribute to women’s psychological state, in their perception, during or shortly after the submission to chemotherapy. Twenty-five women with breast cancer submitted to neoadjuvant chemotherapy were recruited through a non-probabilistic convenience sampling method. Data were collected through a structured interview and were analysed using Grounded Theory. Ten categories women consider as factors that contribute to their psychological state were identified: diagnosis’ impact; treatment’s side effects; psychological symptoms; excessive information; general well-being; social support; personal characteristics; health care; and external factors to the disease. These results show that several factors affect women psychologically during chemotherapy: some negatively and others positively. We concluded that psychologists should give personalised attention to each patient to understand their needs for being more capable of promoting factors that positively contributed to these women psychological state.
- Adjuvant vs. neoadjuvant chemotherapy: quality of life and psychosocial variables in women with breast cancerPublication . Santos, Ana Sofia; Silva, Isabel; Guimarães, Raquel; Meneses, Rutebackground: A breast cancer diagnosis with all that it entails is a highly stressful moment for women. Chemotherapy is one of the main treatments for this type of cancer, and it also brings several side effects and physical changes that often lead to emotional distress and adjustment difficulties. This study aims to analyse the quality of life and psychosocial variables in women with breast cancer submitted to different chemotherapy procedures. participants and procedure We used a convenience sample of 50 women with breast cancer submitted to adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Women were interviewed after obtaining their informed consent. The instruments used were: a sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Breast, Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy–Spiritual Well-Being–12-Item, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and Brief Resilient Coping Scale. results Participants demonstrated reasonable levels of all dimensions analysed, except for resilient coping, which was relatively low. Neither treatment significantly improves quality of life or any other psychosocial variable more than the other. Most of the variables were correlated, especially quality of life. conclusions The results show that the choice of treatment according to the most favourable objective criteria (e.g., stage, patients’ characteristics) and multidisciplinary work with the integration of a psychologist are vital to achieve good outcomes and the best possible quality of life. Interesting insights were obtained, such as the need for health literacy to make informed decisions and the variation of needs during the cancer course. Future research could use a longitudinal approach and a more representative sample.