Resilience and Quality of Life of Patients with Breast Cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women. Modern research attempts to investigate the relationship between psychoemotional parameters and the length of survival of breast cancer patients. Understanding the factors which affect a higher level of resilience can have important clinical implications and can represent a guiding principle for designing psychological interventions that would accelerate recovery and improve the quality of life of cancer patients. To explore the relationship between resilience and quality of life of women with breast cancer. METHODS: The study was conducted at the Clinic of Oncology of the University Clinical Hospital Mostar, which included 60 subjects. Objective realization was achieved through using the socio-demographic questionnaire purposely made for this research, the quality of life questionnaire WHQOL-BREF and the psychological resilience questionnaire CD-RISC-25. RESULTS: Subjects treated with radiotherapy achieved statistically significantly higher scores on subscales of the quality of life: mental health, social relations, and the environment. No statistically significant correlations were found between the level of resilience and results in the domains of quality of life. CONCLUSION: There is not a statistically significant association between resilience levels and quality of life in patients with breast cancer.

Anxiety of Patients at Magnetic Resonance Imaging Screening.

INTRODUCTION: Anxiety is a state of feeling helpless and insecure, a state of anticipation and concern that something bad will happen. Fear of pain and the unknown, as well as fear of screening results can increase anxiety. Severe anxiety during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)can cause patient's movement, leading to poorer imaging and reduction in the quality of the diagnostic test. To determine the anxiety of patients before and after magnetic resonance imaging and to investigate the relationship between the tested anxiety and the socio-demographic characteristics of the patients. METHODS: The study was conducted at the Department of Radiology of the University Clinical Hospital Mostar in the period from February 1st 2020 to March 31st 2020. The study included 100 subjects who were prescribed an MRI screening at the time of the study. A socio-demographic questionnaire specifically designed for this study was used to obtain data on subjects such as gender, age, place of residence, smoking, drinking alcohol, economic status, religiosity. The Anxiety Questionnaire as a State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was used to examine anxiety. RESULTS: A statistically significantly higher degree of anxiety was determined after MRI screening (p<0.001). Male subjects achieved a statistically significantly higher degree of anxiety before (p=0.019) and after (p=0.034) MRI screening. There were no statistically significant correlations between the age of the subjects and the results achieved on the anxiety tests before and after the MRI screening. CONCLUSION: Subjects who were prescribed an MRI screening have a statistically significantly higher degree of anxiety after the screening. Male subjects had a statistically significantly higher degree of anxiety on MRI screening.

Association between Resilience and Quality of Life in Patients with Colon Cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Colon cancer is one of the most common malignancies. Numerous studies suggest an association between resilience and quality of life in colon cancer patients. The aim of this study was to explore the association between resilience and quality of life in people with colon cancer. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 200 subjects at the Oncology Clinic of the University Clinical Hospital Mostar. Data were collected in the period between April 2019 and June 2021. A socio-demographic questionnaire specifically designed for this study, a CD-RISC-25 scale for assessing resilience, and a WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire for assessing quality of life were used for collecting data. RESULTS: A statistically significant positive association of resilience with all domains of quality of life was found. The mental health domain contributed the most statistically significantly positively to the level of resilience. Patients who were not married had a statistically significantly higher level of resilience compared to married, divorced and widowed patients. No statistically significant difference was found in resilience levels relative to other socio-demographic factors and cancer stage. Patients treated with a combination of surgery and chemotherapy had a statistically significantly higher level of resilience compared to patients treated with other therapeutic methods. CONCLUSIONS: Higher level of resilience statistically significantly contributes to a higher level of quality of life in people with colon cancer.

Correlation of Religiousness with the Quality of Life and Psychological Symptoms in Oncology Patients.

INTRODUCTION: Malignant diseases are one of the leading mortalities in the world, causing a range of psychological symptoms and reducing the quality of life in oncology patients. Examine the correlation of religion with the quality of life and psychological symptoms in oncology patients. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The cross-sectional study included 100 oncology patients in the test group and 80 internal medicine patients in the control group. A sociodemographic questionnaire was specifically designed for this study, the Duke University Religion Index, the Symptom Check List 90, and the WHOQOL-100 quality of life assessment were used to collect the data. RESULTS: The average score in oncology patients was significantly lower on the subscales for physical health (p<0.000), social connections (p<0.002), and intrinsic religiousness (p<0.046) in comparison to internal medicine patients. On the psychological symptoms scale, the average score was higher in oncology patients with the largest difference observed on the psychoticism subscale (p<0.078). CONCLUSION: Oncology patients are statistically less religious and are not satisfied with the quality of life in comparison to internal medicine patients. Psychological symptoms are more pronounced in oncology patients but the difference is not statistically significant. A lower level of religiousness is statistically negatively correlated with a higher severity of psychological symptoms.

Psychic Symptoms and Self-Esteem in Dancers.

INTRODUCTION: The mental health of the human being and a higher level of the self-esteem have the positive effects on the peace surrounding, stability, success and the personal satisfaction of any individual. The fundamental opinion is that the dance has the affect on the body and the psychical health of the people. To explore if the dancers have their less-expressed psychical symptoms and higher self-esteem. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The examination was performed on the sample of 310 examinees, mostly of the young life age and who identified themselves as the dancers or non-dancers. For the requirements of the investigation there were used the socio-demographic question-form, the psychical symptoms estimation scale (RCL-90-R) and the Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSES). RESULTS: The dancers show the smaller appearance of the psychical symptoms and that almost in all sub-scales, but their difference is not statistically significant. The statistically significant difference among the men and the women was recorded in the subscales of the somatisations, then the interpersonal vulnerability, the depression, the anxiety and the phobias. The dancers possess their higher self-esteem then the non-dancers, but statistically their difference is not significant. Comparing the results against the sex, the persons of the female sex possess the higher self-respect than the persons of the male sex. CONCLUSION: The dancers possess less of the psychical symptoms and their higher self-esteem than the non-dancers, but the difference within the results is not significant statistically.