Aim of the study: The objective of the study was to evaluate mental adjustment to cancer in patients diagnosed with an oncologic disease through identification of the coping strategies they had adopted.
Material and methods: Seventy-four patients of the Clinic of Oncology and Haematology at the Central Clinical Hospital (CSK) of the Ministry of Interior (MSW) in Warsaw were included in the study. The degree of adaptation to cancer was evaluated with the use of the mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer (mini-MAC) scale. The individual subscales, i.e. fighting spirit, positive redefinition, helplessness-hopelessness, and anxious preoccupation, were collated with socio-demographic characteristics.
Results: Study findings indicate that: 1) tumour patients typically manifest behaviour that allows one to identify their adjustment to cancer; 2) in malignant tumour patients constructive behaviour prevails over destructive behaviour; 3) the helplessness-hopelessness response is more pronounced in men than women; 4) metastatic patients manifest stronger helplessness-hopelessness response than patients with locally limited tumours; 5) pensioners more often than people of working age adopt the helplessness-hopelessness strategy; and 6) patients with the shortest disease period manifest the strongest fighting spirit.
Conclusions: Cancer patients employ various strategies of coping with disease depending on socio-demographic factors.
Keywords: cancer; coping with stress; mental adjustment to neoplastic disease; mini Mental Adjustment to Cancer Scale (mini-MAC); psycho-oncology.