Everyday Experiences of Women Posttreatment After Breast Cancer: The Role of Uncertainty, Hassles, Uplifts, and Coping on Depressive Symptoms

Considerable research has examined the experiences of women at risk, during diagnosis, and throughout treatment of breast cancer; however, less in known about these women posttreatment. Many women report dealing with extensive long-standing ailments such as lymphedema and fatigue, as well as a fear of illness recurrence. However, women posttreatment also report finding benefit and meaning from their cancer occurrence. These orthogonal outcomes may be related to the uncertainty an individual is able to tolerate. Thus, this online study examined Canadian women who completed treatment for breast cancer (n = 42), and women in a control condition (n = 42), responses to the daily experience of hassles and uplifts, intolerance of uncertainty, coping strategies, and depressive symptoms. Although depressive symptoms and daily hassles did not differ between the two groups of women, women with a previous cancer experience reported a greater amount and frequency of daily uplifts, and hassle intensity predicted fewer depressive symptoms among women posttreatment compared to healthy controls. Furthermore, hassle intensity mediated the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and depressive symptoms, but only for women in the control condition. Last, for women posttreatment only, the use of emotion-focused coping to deal with a fear of cancer recurrence mediated the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and depressive symptoms, whereas problem-focused, avoidant, or cognitive-restructuring coping strategies did not. These results point to the need to provide resources to women posttreatment, but also that those women who survive breast cancer can obtain benefits from the experience.