ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The Mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer Scale (MiniMAC) is widely used to evaluate cancer patients' psychological responses to diagnosis and treatment. Validation studies of the scale have shown inconsistency in the obtained factor structures. The aim of this study was to explore the factor structure, using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and other psychometric properties of the MiniMAC in Spanish breast cancer patients. METHODS: A sample of 368 women with breast cancer completed the MiniMAC and the 18 items version of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-18). RESULTS: The original pentafactorial model and three additional models derived from the empirical research -two first-order structures with four and three factors, and a second-order bifactorial structure- were tested. The five-factor model showed the best model fit and largely replicated the original MiniMAC's subscales. Five factors had acceptable reliability and showed modest correlations with emotional distress in the expected direction. CONCLUSIONS: The Spanish version of the MiniMAC has a satisfactory overall performance and serves as a brief, reliable and valid tool measuring cognitive appraisals and ensuing reactions to cancer.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Psychological/physiology , Breast Neoplasms/psychology , Psychometrics/methods , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Reproducibility of Results , Spain , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
Objetivo: en este estudio se estima la prevalencia de distrés, se identifican los problemas asociados y se analiza el conocimiento y uso que hacen los pacientes sobre los recursos psicosociales disponibles en el centro hospitalario. Método: se lleva a cabo un estudio transversal en el que participan 203 pacientes oncológicos que están recibiendo tratamiento quimioterápico. En la evaluación se emplean el Inventario de Síntomas Breve-18 (BSI-18), el Listado de Problemas de NCCN y una encuesta sobre el conocimiento y uso de los recursos asistenciales del centro hospitalario. Resultados: la prevalencia de distrés en la muestra total es del 26%. Los problemas físicos son la principal fuente de distrés: fatiga, dolor, sequedad o picor en la piel y problemas de sueño, entre los más prevalentes. El BSI-18 y la Lista de Problemas muestran correlaciones estadísticamente significativas (r = 0,74; Rango: r = 0,69 y r = 0,18). Sólo el 21% de los casos clínicos de distrés utiliza los servicios psicosociales disponibles. El 79% restante indica no hacer uso de los mismos por considerar no necesitarlos o por desconocer su existencia. Conclusiones: aunque la mayor parte de los participantes muestran un buen ajuste a la enfermedad, un porcentaje significativo presenta niveles clínicos de distrés. Es crucial llevar a cabo cribados rutinarios de la respuesta de distrés para su manejo/control temprano, e informar a la población sobre los recursos psicosociales disponibles, concienciándolos de la importancia de su uso en momentos de vulnerabilidad (AU)
Objective: this study estimates the prevalence of emotional distress, identifies the associated problems, and analyses the knowledge and use that patients make of the psychosocial resources available in the Hospital. Method: a cross-sectional study is carried out involving 203 cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. The Brief Inventory of Symptoms -18 (BSI 18), the NCCN Problem List, and a shorter version of the Psychosocial Questionnaire are used. Results: the prevalence of distress in the total sample was 26%. The physical problems are the main source of distress: fatigue, pain, skin dry/itchy, and sleep related problems, are the most prevalent. The BSI-18 and the List of Problems show statistically significant correlations (r = .74, Range: r = .69 and r = .18). Only 21% of the distress clinical cases use the available psychosocial services. The remaining 79% indicate that they do not use them because they not need any help or not know about their existence. Conclusions: although the majority of the participants have a good adjustment to the disease, a significant percentage presents clinical levels of emotional distress. It is crucial to carry out routine screening of the distress response for early management/control, and to inform the population about the availability of psychosocial resources, making them aware of the importance of their use in vulnerability moments (AU)
Subject(s)
Humans , Stress, Psychological/psychology , Neoplasms/psychology , Psychiatric Status Rating Scales/statistics & numerical data , Cross-Sectional Studies , Symptom Assessment/instrumentation , Mental Health Services/organization & administration , Fatigue/epidemiology , Depression/epidemiology , Anxiety , Stress, Psychological/epidemiology , Pain/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Los objetivos del estudio fueron: 1) analizar la estructura factorial de la escala CAEPO mediante análisis factorial exploratorio y confirmatorio; 2) estimar la consistencia interna de los factores; 3) describir la distribución de los factores; 4) analizar las diferencias de medias de las estrategias de afrontamiento entre hombres y mujeres. El Cuestionario de Afrontamiento al Estrés para Pacientes Oncológicos (CAEPO) de González (2004) fue aplicado a 148 pacientes oncológicos. Se sugiere reducir la escala a 35 ítems. Se encontró una estructura de cuatro factores correlacionados con consistencias internas de adecuadas a altas. La distribución de los factores se ajustó a una curva normal y no se encontraron diferencias significativas entre hombre y mujeres. En futuras investigaciones, se sugiere su empleo en muestras clínicas de España y otros países hispanoparlantes
The goals of the study are: 1) to analyze the factorial structure of the Coping to Stress Questionnaire for Oncologic Patients instrument by the use of a factorial exploratory and confirmatory analysis; 2) to estímate the internal reliability of the factors; 3) to describe the distribution of the factors; 4) to analyze the mean differences of the coping strategies between men and women. The Coping to Stress Questionnaire for Oncologic Patients (González, 2004) was used for 148 oncologic patients. It is given suggestions to reduce the questionnaire to 35 items, It was found four correlationated factors estructure with internal reliability from adecuated to high. The factors distribution was adjusted to the normal curve and it was not found significative differences between men and women. In future investigation, it is suggested to use this questionnaire un clinic samples from Spain and others Spanish speaking countries
