Relationships among hope, coping style and social support for breast cancer patients

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women, and its incidence seems to have gradually increased every year. During the treatment of breast cancer, patients suffer psychological morbidity, and hope is one important factor in maintaining psychological health. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the level of hope in Chinese women with breast cancer during chemotherapy and confirmed the relationships among hope, coping style, and social support.

One hundred and fifty-nine inpatients with breast cancer who were undergoing chemotherapy in two affiliated hospitals of Harbin Medical University were recruited and investigated. Each patient completed the Herth Hope Index (HHI), Jalowiec Coping Scale (JCS), and the social support scale made by XIAO Shui-yuan, and provided general demographic data.

The mean hope level of the 159 patients with breast cancer was 38.62 ± 4.56. There was a statistical difference between the hope level and monthly income. Analysis of results from the Pearson test showed no relationship between the hope level and coping style; however, there were positive relationships between hope and optimism, hope and self-reliance, and hope and palliative coping styles. In contrast, negative relationships were found between hope and the fatalistic and emotional coping styles. The total score of hope and social support had significantly positive relationship for the three scales.

Patients with breast cancer achieved high levels of hope, with the level of hope being proportional to increase in the income. During chemotherapy, patients with breast cancer had adopted many coping styles.