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Acute stress trajectories 1 year after a breast cancer diagnosis

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the longitudinal trajectories of acute stress reactions over the course of diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up assessments in a group of non-metastatic breast cancer patients during five different moments of the illness process, and to identify psychological predictors of the trajectories.

Methods

The sample was formed by 102 non-metastatic breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant chemotherapy. Latent growth mixture models (LGMM) were used to identify latent classes, and we used multinomial logistic regression in a conditional model to examine predictors to differentiate between trajectories.

Results

We identified four different groups according to their trajectories: (1) a resilient group, (44.5 %); (2) a mild acute stress group, (40.6 %); (3) a delayed–recovery group (11.9 %); and (4) a chronic acute stress group (2.9 %). Moreover, anxious preoccupation showed the strongest significant effects in predicting each class, whereas cognitive avoidance and type C personality had moderate effects for participants in the mild acute stress group.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates that the majority of breast cancer patients in our study were resilient, with only a small percentage showing chronic acute stress. Because coping strategies, specifically anxious preoccupation, and not more stable variables played a main role in the prediction of acute stress trajectories, future preventive interventions should center in promoting more adaptive coping strategies in breast cancer patients.

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Conflict of interest

All authors disclose any financial and personal relationships that could inappropriately influence their work. Authors have full control of all primary data and agree to allow the journal to review their data if requested.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Personality, Assessment and Therapeutic Interventions, Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir, Valencia, Spain

    Sandra Pérez

  2. Department of Statistics, Applied Operations Research and Quality, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Valencia, Spain

    Andrea Conchado

  3. Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatment, Universidad de Valencia, Valencia, Spain

    Yolanda Andreu, María José Galdón, Elena Ibáñez & Estrella Durá

  4. CERCAP, Department of Psychology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Etzel Cardeña

Authors
  1. Sandra Pérez
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  2. Andrea Conchado
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  3. Yolanda Andreu
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  4. María José Galdón
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  5. Etzel Cardeña
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  6. Elena Ibáñez
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  7. Estrella Durá
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sandra Pérez.

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Pérez, S., Conchado, A., Andreu, Y. et al. Acute stress trajectories 1 year after a breast cancer diagnosis. Support Care Cancer 24, 1671–1678 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-015-2960-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-015-2960-x

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