Coping in women with breast cancer in complementary and conventional care over 5 years measured by the mental adjustment to cancer scale.

OBJECTIVE

Many patients with cancer, women more often than men, use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and care. Our aim was to examine coping over 5 years (November 1995 to January 1999) in two samples of women with breast cancer who were treated with anthroposophic care or conventional medical treatment. The present study is part of a larger study of the outcome of anthroposophic care for women with breast cancer.

DESIGN

A nonrandomized controlled trial design was used with individual matching and repeated measurements on six occasions (at admission, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, and 5 years). The matching was based on the following variables: stage of disease at entry, age, treatment during the 3 months before entering the study, and prognosis.

SETTING

An anthroposophic hospital and conventional hospitals in Sweden.

SUBJECTS

Sixty (60) women treated with anthroposophic medicine and 60 women from an oncology outpatient department participated. Forty-nine (49) women in anthroposophic care and 51 in the outpatient group survived 1 year; 26 women in anthroposophic care and 31 in the outpatient group survived 5 years.

INTERVENTION

An anthroposophic care program.

OUTCOME MEASURE

Coping was measured using the Mental Adjustment to Cancer scale. Repeat measures of analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for within-group comparisons, and effect size (ES) was used for between-group comparisons.

RESULTS

The women in anthroposophic care showed more passive and anxious coping on admission, but this decreased over time. In the women in anthroposophic care, there were small ES improvements in fighting spirit and passive, anxious coping at 4 of the measured timepoints compared to admission.

CONCLUSION

The choice of anthroposophic care could be seen as a possible way to cope with emotional distress in this group of women with breast cancer.