As Strong as We Are United: Effects of Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Emotion Regulation on Quality of Life in Women With Breast Cancer

Frontiers in Psychology

Cristina Camilo¹  Rita Moura¹  Sílvia Luís² 

[1] CIS-IUL, Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal;Escola de Psicologia e Ciências da Vida, HEI-Lab, Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal;Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas, Centro de Administração e de Políticas Públicas, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal;

关键词: breast cancer;    emotion regulation;    emotional sharing;    negative emotions;    wellbeing;    quality of life;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2021.661496

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Women diagnosed with breast cancer often experience unpleasant emotions, resulting in higher levels of emotional burden and decreased levels of wellbeing and quality of life. The present correlational and cross-sectional study aims to compare the implementation of two regulatory levels, intrapersonal and interpersonal (as social sharing of emotions), and two types of strategies, antecedent-focused and response-focused, and explore their impact on breast cancer patients’ perception of quality of life. Sixty-eight women previously diagnosed with the disease participated in this study, with a mean age of 63years old (SD=11.58). Data were collected through a self-report questionnaire to assess emotional experience, intrapersonal regulation, social sharing of emotions, and breast cancer-related wellbeing and quality of life. Data yielded that most of the participants regulated their negative emotions within social interactions and made more use of antecedent-focused strategies to cognitively reformulate the emotional episode. Social and family wellbeing were positively associated with antecedent-focused strategies, as well as intrapersonal and interpersonal regulatory levels. Moreover, the occurrence of sharing episodes and social interactions played an important and beneficial role on patients’ perceived quality of life. These findings reinforce the importance of promoting an adaptive intrapersonal regulation among breast cancer patients. Results also suggest that social sharing of emotions is an efficient process to help them to better cope with the psychological and emotional burden of the disease, thus positively influencing the way they perceive their social and family wellbeing, as well as their quality of life.

【 授权许可】

Unknown