Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to draw a comparison between patients diagnosed with breast-cancer and had mastectomy and post-mastectomy reconstructive operation with respect to their depression, self-esteem and self-efficacy belief scores against the scores of a healthy control group having no breast cancer history. METHODS: A cross-sectional and correlational research design was implemented. Research sample consists of 240 women. Participants were 75 mastectomy patients, and 32 post-mastectomy reconstructive surgery patients after being diagnosed with breast cancer, and 133 healthy women. In data collection, Personal Information Form, General Self-efficacy Scale, Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory and Beck Depression Inventory have been utilized. Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis H and Spearman Rho correlation techniques were used to analyze data. RESULTS: Data revealed that mastectomy patients’ depression level was higher than patients who had post-mastectomy reconstructive operation and control group. It was also identified that compared to patients having post-mastectomy reconstructive operation and control group, mastectomy patients had low levels of self-esteem and self-efficacy beliefs. CONCLUSIONS: It was then concluded that with respect to depression, self-esteem and self-efficacy levels, the best treatment was a combination of chemotherapy+hormonal therapy and surgery.

Key words: cancer, depression, mastectomy, reconstructive surgery, self-esteem, self-efficacy