General health and resilience of breast cancer patients: the mediator role of affective well-being

Abstract

A considerable percentage of breast cancer patients present adequate psychological adjustment and do not become distressed after a breast cancer diagnosis, or, if they do, they manage to recover quickly, which is reflected in their general health. This study aims to determine the role of some psychological mechanisms that affect psycho-oncological adjustment, specifically, resilience and well-being, in a sample of 109 breast cancer patients. For this purpose, participants completed questionnaires on general health, resilience, and well-being (life satisfaction and affect). Correlation analyses and a multiple mediation model were carried out. The results revealed that Pearson correlations between all variables showed strong associations between general health scores and positive and negative affect scores, and moderate associations with life satisfaction and resilience scores. Furthermore; in the mediation model, the total percentage of variance explained by the overall model was 55% (R2 = 0.55), where resilience was associated with positive and negative affect, and that influenced general health. These results show that affective well-being is especially relevant in breast cancer patients in terms of its mediating role in resilience, making it clear that an appropriate intervention focused on managing patients’ affective status can have a favorable impact on their overall health.