Pain Control, Acceptance and Adjustment to the Disease among Patients with Ovarian, Endometrial and Breast Cancer in Poland

Aleksandra Czerw; Urszula Religioni; Katarzyna Sygit; Agnieszka Nieradko-Heluszko; Dominika Mękal; Olga Partyka; Marcin Mikos; Mateusz Eid; Łukasz Strzępek; Tomasz Banaś

doi:10.3390/ijerph182212148

Pain Control, Acceptance and Adjustment to the Disease among Patients with Ovarian, Endometrial and Breast Cancer in Poland

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Nov 19;18(22):12148. doi: 10.3390/ijerph182212148.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Health Economics and Medical Law, Medical University of Warsaw, 02-091 Warsaw, Poland.
² Department of Economic and System Analyses, National Institute of Public Health NIH-National Research Institute, 00-791 Warsaw, Poland.
³ Collegium of Business Administration, Warsaw School of Economics, 02-513 Warsaw, Poland.
⁴ Faculty of Health Sciences, Calisia University, 62-800 Kalisz, Poland.
⁵ Subdepartment of Social Medicine and Public Health, Department of Social Medicine, Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, 70-103 Szczecin, Poland.
⁶ Department of Cancer Prevention, Medical University of Warsaw, 02-091 Warsaw, Poland.
⁷ Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University, 30-705 Krakow, Poland.
⁸ Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Warsaw, 02-091 Warsaw, Poland.
⁹ Department of General Surgery, Regional Public Hospital in Bochnia, 32-700 Bochnia, Poland.
¹⁰ Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 31-501 Krakow, Poland.

Abstract

Background: Breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancer are among the most common causes of morbidity and mortality of women in Poland. In 2016, breast cancer was the most common cause of morbidity and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women, endometrial cancer was the third most common cause of morbidity and the seventh leading cause of death, and ovarian cancer was the fifth most common cause of morbidity and the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths in women. The aim of the study was to assess the strategy of pain control, acceptance of the cancer and adjustment to life with disease in women with ovarian cancer, endometrial and breast cancer. This study shows how level of pain control, acceptance, and adjustment can differ among patients with the three kinds of cancer and which factors have the most influence on patients' adjustment to the disease.

Methods: The study was carried out with 481 patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer, endometrial and breast cancer. In the study BPCQ, CSQ, AIS and Mini-MAC questionnaires were used.

Results: In the BPCQ questionnaire the highest result was acquired in the scope of the impact of doctors (M = 16.45, SD = 4.30), differentiated by cancer location and socio-economic variables. In the CSQ test, the highest result was achieved by praying/hoping, differentiated by cancer location and socio-economic variables. The average AIS acceptance score was M = 27.48 (SD = 7.68). The highest result of the Mini-Mac scale was obtained by patients in the area of fighting spirit (M = 22.94, SD = 3.62), and these results depended on socio-economic and treatment-related variables but were not differentiated by cancer location.

Conclusions: Patients attribute the highest importance in the disease to the influence of physicians, praying/hoping, and fighting spirit. The awareness of the pain management strategies of patients with cancer allows appropriate psychological support to be designed for specific groups of patients.

Keywords: breast cancer; disease acceptance; endometrial cancer; ovarian cancer; pain.

MeSH terms

Adaptation, Psychological
Breast Neoplasms* / epidemiology
Endometrial Neoplasms* / epidemiology
Female
Humans
Ovarian Neoplasms*
Pain
Pain Management
Poland / epidemiology
Surveys and Questionnaires