Symptom Experience and Coping Strategies Among Patients with Breast Cancer Receiving Chemotherapy

Abstract

Background.

Patients with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy are vulnerable to symptom experience and coping strategies. This study aimed to assess the symptom experiences and coping strategies of patients with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy.

Methods. A quantitative descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted. An electronic questionnaire was used to gather data. A convenience sample of 103 female patients with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy was included. The first section of the questionnaire was designed to gather information about the study participants’ backgrounds. More than half of the sample is in stage III (60 patients, 58.3%), and 45 patients (43.7%) had a bachelor’s degree and higher.

Main Results. In the shorter version of the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale, the most psychological symptom reported is “worrying” (mean ± SD = 2.02 ± 0.721), and the physical symptom with high prevalence is “weight loss” (mean = 2.55), whereas the physical symptom with low prevalence is “hair loss” (mean ± SD = 3.89 ± 0.313). According to the Arabic Brief COPE, the highest strategy of active coping is “I’ve been praying or meditating” (92.50%), the highest strategy of passive coping is “I’ve been doing something to think about it less, such as going to movies, watching TV, reading, daydreaming, sleeping, or shopping” (71.00%), and the most seeking support strategy is “I’ve been trying to get advice or help from other people…” (mean ± SD = 3.32 ± 0.866).