Perceived stress and coping in patients with head and neck cancer
Journal Title: Open Journal of Psychiatry & Allied Sciences - Year 2015, Vol 6, Issue 2
Abstract
Background: Head and neck cancer accounts for 30% of all cancers. The diagnosis with cancer imparts a lot of stress and the patient’s ability to cope with this stress reflects in their quality of life. Aim: To study perceived stress, coping and its correlation in patients with head and neck cancer. Materials and methods: The study was a case controlled study. After ethical clearance from institutional review board, 50 subjects with head and neck cancer, and 50 age and sex matched healthy controls from the same socio-cultural background were selected. Each group comprised of 30 males and 20 females between 21-70 years of age, and they were assessed with Perceived Stress Scale and Ways of Coping Questionnaire. Unpaired sample t-test and Spearman correlation were used, and results were obtained. Results: The study group had significantly higher stress than the controls (p<0.05), and using confrontive coping, accepting responsibility, and escape avoidance as coping strategy had positive correlation with perceived stress (p<0.05), while seeking social support and positive reappraisal as coping strategy had negative correlation (p<0.05). Conclusion: Patients with head and neck cancer have a significantly high stress, and maladaptive coping may further aggravate this stress.
Authors and Affiliations
Kunal Deb, Kamala Deka
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP190244
- DOI 10.5958/2394-2061.2015.00009.9
- Views 97
- Downloads 0
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