Number of side effects, ambivalence over emotional expression, perceived side effects burden, and psychological distress in women with advanced breast cancer prior to receiving an experimental treatment

Abstract

The purpose of this descriptive-exploratory, secondary analysis study was to explore the relationships between number of side effects, ambivalence over emotional expression, perceived side effects burden, and psychological distress in women with advanced breast cancer six days prior to receiving an experimental procedure; namely, an autologous bone marrow transplant. The sample consisted of 21 middle aged (M = 46.24), mostly married (n = 14) Caucasian (n = 20) women who had recently completed induction therapy and were found eligible to participate in a highly experimental treatment for their advanced breast cancer (Stage III or IV). Spearman's correlation analysis was used to identify relationships among the variables. The significance value was set at ≤ .10. This study supported a strong significant positive relationship (r = .589) between ambivalence over emotional expression and psychological distress and a moderate significant positive relationship between number of side effects and psychological distress (r = .38). Implications and limitations are discussed.