Abstract
Little is known about whether and how stress management skills may improve adjustment for men diagnosed with prostate cancer who opt for active surveillance. This study examined whether two types of perceived stress management skills, specifically the ability to relax and confidence in coping, moderated the relationship between prostate cancer (PC) concerns and psychological distress. Participants were 71 ethnically diverse men in active surveillance. Coping confidence moderated the relationship between PC concerns and intrusive thoughts (p < .01). At low levels of coping confidence, PC concerns was positively related to intrusive thoughts, β = .95, p < .001, but not when coping confidence was high, β = .19, p > .05. Coping confidence also moderated the relationship between PC treatment concerns (a subscale of PC concerns) and intrusive thoughts. At low levels of coping confidence, PC treatment concerns was positively associated with intrusive thoughts, β = .73, p < .001, but not when coping confidence was high, β = .20, p > .05. Findings underscore the importance of interventions aimed at improving coping in men undergoing active surveillance.
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Acknowledgments
This research was funded by R01-CA-114412 (Penedo; PI). Research reported in this manuscript was also supported in part by a National Cancer Institute Diversity Supplement awarded to Betina Yanez under grant number R01-CA-157809.
Conflict of interest
Dr. Betina Yanez, Natalie E. Bustillo, Dr. Michael H. Antoni, Dr. Suzanne C. Lechner, Dr. Jason Dahn, Dr. Bruce Kava and Dr. Frank J. Penedo declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent
All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (Schroder et al., 2009). Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.
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Yanez, B., Bustillo, N.E., Antoni, M.H. et al. The importance of perceived stress management skills for patients with prostate cancer in active surveillance. J Behav Med 38, 214–223 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-014-9594-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-014-9594-1