The role of mindfulness on fear of cancer recurrence in women with breast cancer in Gorgan

Introduction: One of the major concerns of breast cancer patients is fear of recurrence. The increasing survival rate of cancer patients and the complexities of care have exposed these patients to this type of fear, which is a distressing psychosocial risk that affects their quality of life. Therefore, it is important to study the factors that can reduce it. Material and Methods: The statistical population was all the patients (N = ۲۲۶ patients) with breast cancer referred to the Gorgan Cancer Patients' Association. Using Krejcie Morgan table, we selected ۱۴۳ patients by convenience sampling. The Data were collected through the Bauer et al. (۲۰۰۶) Mindfulness Questionnaire and the Simard and Savard (۲۰۰۹) Cancer Fear Recurrence Questionnaire and analyzed by Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Pearson correlation test, regression analysis and chi-square. Results: The results showed that there was a significant correlation between mindfulness and fear of breast cancer recurrence (p <۰.۰۵). The results of multiple regression also showed that the five facets of mindfulness Questionnaire have the ability to predict the variable of fear of cancer recurrence. There was also a correlation between all three demographic variables with fear of recurrence, but mindfulness was related to only two variables, age and education. Conclusion: The findings show that attention to mindfulness techniques is effective in controlling and reducing the fear of cancer recurrence. The results also emphasize that in using mindfulness to reduce the fear of recurrence, the demographic variables such as age and education should be considered and then the appropriate programs should be implemented.

کلیدواژه ها:

Mindfulness ، Fear of cancer recurrence ، Breast cancer