Predictors of symptom distress in women with breast cancer during the first chemotherapy cycle

“The Scheier and Carver Life Orientation Scale (LOT) was used to measure optimism (Scheier & Carver, 1985).”

“216CONJ • 15/4/05 RCSIO • 15/4/05 relationships and decrease adherence to treatment protocols, thereby decreasing survival (Degner & Sloan, 1995; Kukull, McCorkle & Driever, 1986).”

“Younger patients (Cimprich, 1999; Degner & Sloan, 1995; Pasacreta, 1997; Sarna & Brecht, 1997) and women (Degner & Sloan, 1995; Tishelman, Taube, & Sachs, 1991) reported higher levels of symptom distress.”

“…degree of discomfort reported by patients in relation to their perception of the symptoms being experienced (McCorkle & Young, 1978) and as the physical and mental anguish or suffering that results from the experience of symptom occurrence or perception of feeling states (Rhodes & Watson, 1987).”

“Sarna and Brecht (1997) examined educational levels and found that those with higher educational levels reported lower scores for outlook on the symptom distress scale (Sarna & Brecht, 1997).”

“Individual linear regression slopes for each subject were calculated and used as scores of change in symptom distress over time (Kraemer & Thiemann, 1989).”

“The low scores could be attributed to the feelings and experiences of these women who were receiving relatively nontaxing chemotherapy protocols or to the inaccuracy of measurement of symptom distress by currently available instruments (Ehlke, 1988; Boehmke, 2004).”

“In the oncology context, distress is multifactorial, as numerous areas in a patient’s life contribute to his or her experience of distress, including physical symptoms, disease severity, treatment [3,4]; physical activity level / performance status [5–7]; social support (for a review see [8]); and psychological factor…”

“The significant relationship between perceived support from health care providers and lower rates of insomnia supports research done by Boehmke and Brown (2005), who compared breast cancer patients’ outlook and level of trust of health care providers.”

“Most women diagnosed with breast cancer experience heightened distress (e.g. Boehmke & Brown, 2005), and a subset of breast cancer patients experience significant levels of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic symptoms (e.g. intrusive thoughts, hyper-arousal) or adjustment disorder symptoms that…”

“Thus, oncology patients not only have to face a life-threatening disease; they also have to undergo treatments that, by modifying the body image, add more distress to an already compromised emotional situation [40, 41].”

“Fatigue is very common in cancer patients [7,8] and predicts higher symptom distress [9,10].”

“With regard to stress during treatment, chemotherapy has been reported as a period where most women, even at disease stage I and II, experience distress at some point.(7) A study that compared breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy with others who were not found that stress levels 598225 ICTXXX10.”

“Breast cancer is one of the most feared diseases among women, and for many women a breast cancer diagnosis and its subsequent treatment are accompanied by dealing with a spectrum of physical and psychological challenges [1,2].”

“Others have found that symptom distress alters the cancer experience and influences quality of life (Boehmke & Brown, 2005; chen et al., 2004; Freihat, 2005).”