TY - JOUR
T1 - Perceived stigma, self-blame, and adjustment among lung, breast and prostate cancer patients.
AU - Else-Quest, Nicole M.
AU - LoConte, Noelle K.
AU - Schiller, Joan H.
AU - Hyde, Janet Shibley
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by an American Medical Association Seed Grant to Dr. LoConte and research awards from the University of Wisconsin Department of Psychology and Women’s Studies Program to Dr. Else-Quest. Portions of these data were presented at the 2005 meeting of the Association for the Study of Lung Cancer in Barcelona, Spain; the 2006 meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Atlanta, Georgia, USA; and the 2006 meeting of the American Psychological Association in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. The authors thank the staff at the University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center, UW Health Oncology Clinic, and Veterans Administration Hospital. Many thanks also to Chris Coe, Lyn Abramson, and Carol Ryff for comments on previous drafts.
PY - 2009/10
Y1 - 2009/10
N2 - People who suffer from disease have often been stigmatised. The internalisation of stigma leads to the experience of self-blame. The relationship among stigma, self-blame and adjustment was framed with two theoretical perspectives: the looking-glass self and learned helplessness models. These models were studied in 96 lung, 30 breast and 46 prostate cancer patients. Consistent with the looking-glass-self model, we predicted that perceived stigma and self-blame would be associated with poorer psychological adjustment; the data supported these hypotheses. Consistent with the learned helplessness model, we predicted that self-blame would mediate the link between perceived stigma and psychological adjustment; data supported these hypotheses. The mediation model explained a greater percentage of the variance in adjustment in the lung cancer sample compared to the breast and prostate cancer sample. Participants who reported internal causal attributions reported poorer psychological adjustment. Lung cancer patients were more likely than breast or prostate cancer patients to report internal causal attributions for their cancer. Future research and cancer care are discussed in light of these findings.
AB - People who suffer from disease have often been stigmatised. The internalisation of stigma leads to the experience of self-blame. The relationship among stigma, self-blame and adjustment was framed with two theoretical perspectives: the looking-glass self and learned helplessness models. These models were studied in 96 lung, 30 breast and 46 prostate cancer patients. Consistent with the looking-glass-self model, we predicted that perceived stigma and self-blame would be associated with poorer psychological adjustment; the data supported these hypotheses. Consistent with the learned helplessness model, we predicted that self-blame would mediate the link between perceived stigma and psychological adjustment; data supported these hypotheses. The mediation model explained a greater percentage of the variance in adjustment in the lung cancer sample compared to the breast and prostate cancer sample. Participants who reported internal causal attributions reported poorer psychological adjustment. Lung cancer patients were more likely than breast or prostate cancer patients to report internal causal attributions for their cancer. Future research and cancer care are discussed in light of these findings.
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U2 - 10.1080/08870440802074664
DO - 10.1080/08870440802074664
M3 - Article
C2 - 20205038
AN - SCOPUS:77953056025
SN - 0887-0446
VL - 24
SP - 949
EP - 964
JO - Psychology and Health
JF - Psychology and Health
IS - 8
ER -