Daily Assessment of Stressful events and Coping in early post-operative recovery after colorectal cancer surgery

This study describes the most stressful events and coping strategies used by patients with colorectal cancer 4-6 weeks after surgery and whether the coping strategies were considered helpful or not. For the investigation of situational coping, an exploratory design was used. One hundred and five patients from three Swedish hospitals were included to fill in the Daily Coping Assessment. Most stressful event, number and types of pre-defined coping strategies used, and if the coping strategy used was considered helpful or not, were measured for 5 days. Of 523 diary entries, 180 reported no stressful events. The most stressful event, also with worst level of control and expectation, was "Pain," followed by "Nausea/vomiting." The areas causing most stressful events were "Bowel-related" and "Surgery and treatment-related problems." Acceptance and Direct action were the most frequently used coping strategies. There was a wide range of perceived helpfulness if coping strategies were placed in relation to specific areas of events. The conclusion was that patients revealed several strategies for coping with stressful events but needed a higher level of preparedness for what might come and therefore need to be given appropriate support to cope during the early recovery phase. Such support is suggested to be person-centred and oriented towards individually adapting standardised regimens, given the variety of situations to which the stressful events reported in the study were related.