Patterns of Coping in Women Completing Treatment for Breast Cancer

Two cost-effective one-day workshops presenting either problem-focused or emotion-focused coping strategies for women completing treatment for breast cancer were evaluated for their impact on three robust patterns of coping resulting from a previous factor analysis. A factor analysis was carried out on the Ways of Coping Questionnaire using a sample of patients six months after diagnosis. Three factors were found: positive problem solving, escape/avoidance, and seeking social support. These factors were used as dependent variables in a study on the effects of two brief, psychoeducational workshop interventions on coping among 156 women completing treatment for breast cancer. The women were randomized to either a problem-focused or emotion-focused coping workshop or to a waiting-list (the control group). The results indicated that women who were positive problem solvers made gains in this pattern of coping if they participated in the problem-focused workshop, whereas women in the emotion-focused workshop showed a trend to reduce their use of escape/avoidance. The coping pattern of seeking social support was unchanged by either intervention. The workshops were well accepted and cost-effective. Whether patterns of coping are potentially amenable to growth and change is worthy of future study.