Influence of written emotional expression on the coping with pain in cancer disease

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the influence of written emotional expression on coping with pain in cancer patients. The research was proposed from a quantitative orientation focused on an experimental design of a control group with post test. The participants were 150 people of both sexes between 20 and 55 years, Bolivian nationality diagnosed with cancer disease who attended the Workers' Hospital, Hospital of Clinics and University Social Security Clinic of the city of La Paz. The instruments used were the CAD Pain Coping Questionnaire, the SF-36 Generic Health Questionnaire and the EVA Visual Analog Scale. The data found were analyzed with the SPSS Program, version 15.0, the Anova variance analysis and the Pearson correlation coefficient were used as statistics. The main results reveal that the written emotional expression had an important impact on the coping of pain in cancer patients, the greatest influence being found in the increased use of coping strategies such as the search for social and emotional support of this type of patients. Another important finding was to show that the written emotional expression has a positive impact on some aspects of health assessment, such as the perception of body pain and the social role. It was also found that the different cultures and religious beliefs in a multiethnic country such as Bolivia, have a significant impact on how patients cope with the disease. Finally, the results showed that the demographic variables of gender and age do not seem to have a significant effect on the use of pain coping strategies.