The effect of metacognitive beliefs and cancer response styles on anxiety levels in women with breast cancer in early stage and remission

The aim of the study was to examine the effect of differences in cancer response styles and meta-cognitive beliefs on the anxiety level of women diagnosed with early stage (stage I, II) breast cancer and going through a post-breast cancer remission period. The sample consisted of a total of 110 female participants between the ages of 23 and 65. A personal information form was applied to the participants who consented to the study in the form of a Metacognition Scale, Cancer Response Styles Scale and Generalized Anxiety Scale- Revised questionnaire via the internet and hand-delivered. The data were analyzed with SPSS 27.0 program. The analysis of the data was examined at a 95% confidence interval (p=0.05). As a result of the analysis, positive and negative aspect; high, medium and weak relationships were found between the sub-dimensions of the scales applied; certain sociodemographic variables have been shown to have an impact on people's meta-cognitive beliefs, cancer response styles and anxiety levels. All the total scores of female participants at the early stage of breast cancer from the applied scales were found to be higher than the participants in the remission period of the disease. Regardless of the period of illness, the most common psychological distress in the participants, especially anxiety, were depression and obsessions, which supported previous studies. The results were discussed in line with the findings and suggestions for possible future studies were compiled.