Women's coping strategies during the first three months of adjuvant endocrine therapy for breast cancer.
Susanne Ahlstedt Karlsson, Catarina Wallengren, Roger Olofsson Bagge and 1 others
PMID 32089858WHAT IT FOUND
Sleeping difficulties were the most common stressful problem for women starting breast cancer endocrine therapy.
Accepting the problem was the most used coping strategy, while anxiety and irritation were often managed by thinking about something else.
Key findings
01Sleeping difficulties were the most commonly reported stressful event or problem among women starting endocrine therapy.
02Thirty-four per cent of patients reported emotional problems, which included anxiety, irritation and pre-knowledge about treatment.
03Accepting the problem was the most frequently used coping strategy overall, except for lower abdomen and genital symptoms, anxiety and irritation, where thinking about something else was most common.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Selection and attrition bias are possible: 47 of 53 patients agreed, eight withdrew before writing, and the final group was 39 women. During the diary period, seven patients withdrew, leaving 35, 29 and 24 returned diaries for the first, second and third months. Three withdrawals happened because patients reported no stressful events or problems, which may make the remaining reports less representative. The study was done in one Swedish outpatient unit and included only women starting endocrine therapy after surgery who were not receiving chemotherapy. The diary did not clearly distinguish side effects from normal ageing, and the researchers did not ask whether the coping strategies patients used were effective.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was funded by Stiftelsen Assar Gabrielssons Fond.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that any coping strategy reduced distress or improved treatment adherence. The study only recorded which strategies patients reported using, and the authors did not ask whether those strategies were effective.