A MASTECTOMY SELF-HELP GROUP: ANALYSIS OF ITS EFFECT ON SELF-ESTEEM, SICKNESS IMPACT, AND SOCIAL SUPPORT.
Contributors: Catholic University of America.
Published: 1987
Number of pages: 171
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The purpose of this study was to determine if there are differences in self-esteem, sickness impact, and social support scores of mastectomy women who participated in a self-help group compared to a control group.

The study sample included 58 women, 26 in the experimental group and 32 in the control group, all of whom had had a modified radical mastectomy in one breast for cancer. Subjects in the experimental group volunteered to participate in a self-help group for mastectomy women for a period of three months, while those in the control group did not participate. The Rosenberg's Global Self-Esteem Scale was used to measure the self-esteem. The Sickness Impact Profile was given to the subjects to measure the level of physical, psychosocial, and overall sickness related dysfunction. The Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire was used to assess the women's perception of social support. All subjects were pretested and then posttested three months later. In addition a Personal and Background Information form was used to elicit information about the subjects pertinent to the study. The analysis of covariance, using pretest scores as the covariates, was used to test the hypotheses.

The findings relative to the research hypotheses were: (a) the women who participated in a self-help group reported significantly higher self-esteem scores on the Rosenberg's Global Self-Esteem scale; (b) compared with the control group, the experimental group reported significantly less dysfunction on 4 of the 12 sickness impact variables: emotional behavior, social interaction, alertness behavior, and communication, and they reported significantly less dysfunction related to the psychosocial dimension and overall sickness impact as measured by the Sickness Impact Profile; (c) the subjects who participated in a self-help group for mastectomy women had significantly higher social support scores on the two social support variables utilized in this study, total functional and total network on the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire. It was concluded that participation in a self-help group made differences in the mastectomy women's self-esteem, overall impact of illness, and social support.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-07, Section: B, page: 1936.

Thesis (D.N.SC.)--THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA, 1987.

School code: 0043.