Przystosowanie psychiczne osób z chorobą nowotworową po leczeniu chirurgicznym Mental adaptation of people with cancer after surgery

Introduction
Cancer is perceived as one of the most stressful diseases, which leads to cognitive, emotional, and behavioural changes. Adapting to the disease is a process of adopting a strategy and style of coping with the disease that mobilises patients to struggle with the disease, and this affects their quality of life. Aim of the study: Assessment of the psychological functioning of people diagnosed with cancer and their adaptation to functioning in society.

Material and methods
: The study involved 100 patients treated surgically, including colorectal cancer (50%) and breast cancer (50%), in four clinical hospitals in Łódź. The research tools were as follows: the authors’ own demographic survey on sociodemographic variables and the Mini-MAC scale. Statistical analysis was performed using the U Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, and c2 tests. The relationships were considered statistically significant when p < 0.05.

Results
The study involved 28 men and 72 women, of whom 50 were women after mastectomy and 22 were women with a stoma. Over half (56%) were professionally active. Most respondents (56%) were diagnosed a year ago. When examining demographic data, no significant correlations were found. A statistically significant difference was shown only between the place of residence and level of education, and coping strategy. Demographic factors also had a modest impact on coping styles. A significant correlation was observed when examining the place of residence and level of education.

Conclusions
: In patients with intestinal stoma, as well as women after mastectomy, in their strategy of coping with cancer, they prefer a fighting spirit and positive re-evaluation. Most of the respondents had a constructive style. A destructive style was slightly more common in people living in rural areas. Slightly lower results of helplessness-hopelessness were obtained by respondents with general secondary education.