Background: The selection of an illness coping strategy has a major effect on the quality of life preconditioned by health status.
Objectives: The objective of the study was to assess the influence of the primary site and socioeconomic factors on strategies of coping with pain in patients diagnosed with breast, lung, colorectal, and prostate carcinoma.
Methods: The study included 902 patients treated at the outpatient's department of the Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Center-Institute of Oncology in Warsaw. A questionnaire included demographic-type questions and the Coping Strategy Questionnaire (CSQ) designed to assess patient use of strategies of coping with pain.
Results: The best results in six of the seven CSQ subscales were observed in the colorectal patient group. The lowest scores in all CSQ subscales were recorded in patients with prostate as the primary site. Results in individual patient groups were further juxtaposed with a chemotherapy variable. The only differences were found in the colorectal primary site patient group.
Conclusions: A strategy the patient selects in order to cope with disease considerably mediates both pain sensation and the quality of patient life. The study findings demonstrate that CSQ scores are significantly differentiated by the primary site, education, and income.
Keywords: Cancer; Pain; Quality of life; Strategies of coping with pain.