The relationship among illness perception, coping and functional exercise adherence in Chinese breast cancer survivors

Aims To explore functional exercise adherence, coping styles, and illness perception and to examine the relationships between functional exercise adherence and coping styles with illness perception among Chinese breast cancer survivors. Background Although the relationships between functional exercise adherence with coping styles and illness perception have been examined in people with various chronic illnesses, breast cancer has not yet been included. Design A cross-sectional descriptive correlational design was employed. Methods From September 2016 - January 2017, 124 breast cancer survivors completed a survey that assessed their illness perception, coping style, functional exercise adherence and, demographic and illness-related characteristics. Multiple linear regression analyzes were employed to examine the relationship of demographic and illness-related variables and illness perception to coping style and functional exercise adherence. Results Our respondents tended more to adopt avoidance and resignation coping styles, and showed better functional exercise adherence than respondents in a previous Chinese study. Multiple linear regression analyzes showed that confrontation was associated with treatment control and emotional representation and that avoidance was related to personal control and age at first labour, while resignation was related to timeline acute/chronic, timeline cyclical, and consequence. As for functional exercise adherence, adherence to functional exercise was related to personal control and marital status, while adherence to actively seeking advice was associated with marital status, treatment control, and employment. Conclusions These results imply that interventions that improve illness perceptions may lead to more positive coping styles and better functional exercise adherence and should thus be explored.