Challenges, Coping Strategies, and Social Support among Breast Cancer Patients in Ghana

Table 3

Mean and standard deviation of coping strategies of women diagnosed with breast cancer.

Variables	Mean^a	SD
Active/problem focus (adaptive) coping strategies
Active coping	5.84	0.92
Emotional support	6.03	0.91
Positive reframing	5.18	0.90
Planning	5.71	0.99
Acceptance	4.80	0.87
Religious coping	6.97	0.78
Humor	3.97	1.04
Instrumental support	5.89	0.89
Overall mean	5.55	1.06
Avoidant/emotional focused (maladaptive) coping strategies
Venting/voicing	5.39	0.91
Self-distraction	5.45	0.94
Denial	5.07	1.18
Substance use	3.23	0.88
Behavioral disengagement	4.48	0.93
Self-blaming	3.76	0.91
Overall mean	4.56	1.06

^aComputed by summing the means of two items/questions for each cooping variables. SD, standard deviation. Responses: 1 = I have not been doing this at all; 2 = I’ve been doing this a little bit; 3 = I’ve been doing this a medium amount; 4 = I’ve been doing this a lot. Coping strategies of women with BC were assessed using the Brief-COPE, which comprises 14 items, measuring two coping styles [34].