Features of psychocorrective support for women diagnosed with breast cancer

- Черненко, Г.Ф (orcid.org/0009-0009-1412-7292) (2026) Features of psychocorrective support for women diagnosed with breast cancer Doctoral thesis, Інститут психології імені Г. С. Костюка.

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Abstract

Chernenko H. F. Features of Psychocorrective Support for Women Diagnosed with Breast Cancer. – Qualifying scientific work as a manuscript. Dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the field of knowledge 05 – Social and Behavioral Sciences, specialty 053 – Psychology. – H.S. Kostiuk Institute of Psychology of the National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, 2026. The dissertation presents a theoretical generalization and a new solution to the problem of psychocorrective support for women diagnosed with breast cancer. The study is based on the principles of psycho-oncological, biopsychosocial, salutogenic, resource-oriented approaches, and the methodology of Positive Psychotherapy. Breast cancer is conceptualized as a complex medical-psychological, social, and existential situation that affects a woman’s emotional state, body image, self-attitude, interpersonal relationships, life meanings, quality of life, and psychological integrity. The study establishes that psychocorrectional assistance for women with breast cancer should combine the reduction of psychological distress, anxiety, depressive, and post-traumatic manifestations with the development of internal personal resources, self-acceptance, hardiness, self-regulation, psychological well-being, and the capacity for meaningful integration of the illness experience. The aim of the study is to identify the psychological factors and patterns of experiencing breast cancer, as well as to develop and test the effectiveness of a comprehensive psychocorrectional support program for women diagnosed with breast cancer, aimed at developing internal mental health resources, psychological well-being, and improving quality of life. The object of the study is the psychological factors and characteristics of the mental health of women diagnosed with breast cancer. The subject of the study is the content, structure, and psychological conditions for the effectiveness of comprehensive psychocorrectional assistance for women diagnosed with breast cancer, aimed at developing internal mental health resources, hardiness, self-acceptance, psychological well-being, and quality of life. The achievement of this aim was ensured through the completion of a set of research tasks, within which the main theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding the psychological factors of experiencing breast cancer, the internal picture of the disease, psychosomatic symptoms, psychological distress, and women’s mental health resources were summarized; the methodological framework for studying psychological factors, personality prerequisites, psycho-emotional states, and internal resources of women with breast diseases was substantiated; psychological factors, patterns of illness experience, and psychological characteristics of women with benign and malignant breast diseases were empirically identified; and the effectiveness of a comprehensive psychotherapeutic support program for women diagnosed with breast cancer, aimed at developing internal mental health resources, hardiness, self-acceptance, and improving quality of life, was developed and tested. The scientific research and findings are presented in three chapters of the dissertation. The first chapter, “Theoretical and Methodological Analysis of Psychological Factors in the Development of Breast Cancer,” analyzes contemporary approaches to understanding the psychological aspects of experiencing breast cancer, the internal picture of the disease, psychosomatic symptoms, psychological distress, quality of life, self-acceptance, hardiness, and internal personal resources. It is shown that oncological disease disrupts a woman’s usual way of life and changes her attitude toward her body, future, femininity, social roles, and interpersonal relationships. Special attention is paid to the fact that psychological factors are not considered direct etiological causes of breast cancer, but are analyzed as factors of illness experience, psychological vulnerability, adaptation, and preservation of mental health. The second chapter, “Empirical Study of Psychological Factors, Personal Resources, and Patterns of Experiencing Breast Diseases in Women,” substantiates the design of the empirical study, defines its stages, and describes the sample, methodological tools, and procedure for statistical processing of the results. The study involved 365 women aged from 16 to 74 years. The sample included 77 women diagnosed with breast cancer, 89 women with benign breast neoplasms, 45 healthy women who had first-degree female relatives with breast cancer, and 154 practically healthy women without a diagnosis or family history of breast cancer. A set of psychodiagnostic methods was used to study the psychological characteristics of the respondents: the Wiesbaden Inventory of Positive Psychotherapy and Family Therapy, the Nicholson McBride Resilience Questionnaire, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, a questionnaire for screening post-traumatic stress disorder, the Giessen Subjective Complaints List, C. Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scale, a short Big Five personality questionnaire, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and an author-developed socio-demographic and clinical-psychological questionnaire. The results of the empirical study revealed that women diagnosed with breast cancer are characterized by more pronounced psycho-emotional tension, increased levels of anxiety, depressive manifestations, and post-traumatic stress. A decrease in certain components of psychological well-being was identified, primarily in the indicator of purpose in life. Comparative analysis showed that women with breast cancer and women with benign neoplasms share a number of common psychological characteristics, including increased conscientiousness, responsibility, orientation toward control, order, punctuality, diligence, obligation, and a tendency toward excessive adaptation to external expectations. The resources that support adaptation to illness were identified as self-acceptance, hardiness, resilience, social support, autonomy, capacity for self-regulation, positive relationships with others, hope, belief in the future, and meaningful integration of the illness experience. The third chapter, “A Comprehensive Program of Psychotherapeutic Assistance for Women Diagnosed with Breast Cancer at Different Stages of Treatment,” presents the transition from theoretical and empirical analysis of the psychological factors of illness experience to the development and approbation of a practice-oriented psychocorrectional program. The program is based on resource-oriented and salutogenic approaches, Positive Psychotherapy, and psychoeducational, stabilization, coping, and reflective-meaning-oriented work. The aim of the program is to develop women’s internal mental health resources, hardiness, self-acceptance, and quality of life by strengthening their capacity to perceive the illness experience as more comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful. The central content of the chapter is the description of a comprehensive psychocorrectional program implemented in a group format. The program consists of 8 sessions, each lasting 150 minutes, and has a three-block structure: a psychoeducational-normalizing block, a stabilization-coping block, and a reflective-integrative block. The effectiveness of the program was confirmed by comparing indicators before and after its implementation. At the approbation stage, 36 women were involved and divided into three groups of 12 participants each. The results of repeated diagnostics showed positive dynamics in psychological well-being indicators, as well as harmonization of personality structure according to the indicators of the Wiesbaden Inventory of Positive Psychotherapy. The scientific novelty of the obtained results lies in the fact that, for the first time, psychocorrectional assistance for women diagnosed with breast cancer has been conceptualized as a holistic psychological phenomenon associated with the actualization and development of internal personal resources, hardiness, self-acceptance, psychological well-being, and salutogenic orientation; psychological characteristics of experiencing breast cancer have been identified, particularly the relationships between psycho-emotional state, psychological well-being, hardiness, personality characteristics, internal conflicts, and women’s self-attitude; a comprehensive program of psychocorrectional assistance for women diagnosed with breast cancer, based on resource-oriented and salutogenic approaches, has been substantiated and developed; scientific understanding of the psychological factors and patterns of development of salutogenic orientation in women with benign and malignant breast diseases has been clarified; understanding of the role of internal personal resources in preserving mental health, supporting self-acceptance, enhancing hardiness, and improving the quality of life of women facing severe somatic illness has been deepened; and theoretical provisions concerning the psychological conditions, means, and directions for increasing the effectiveness of psychocorrectional assistance for women diagnosed with breast cancer have been further developed. The theoretical significance of the study lies in the fact that it offers a holistic interpretation of psychocorrectional assistance for women diagnosed with breast cancer as a systematically organized process of developing internal personal resources that ensure the preservation of mental health, support psychological integrity, facilitate adaptation to the illness experience, and improve quality of life. The resource-oriented and salutogenic logic of psychocorrectional work is theoretically substantiated, within which psychotherapeutic assistance is considered not only as a means of overcoming psycho-emotional tension and adapting to illness, but also as a condition for personal recovery, harmonization of internal structure, development of hardiness, self-acceptance, and strengthening of psychological resources necessary for maintaining women’s quality of life in the context of oncological disease. The practical significance of the research results lies in the fact that the identified psychological factors and characteristics of experiencing breast cancer can be used to improve psychological support for women with this diagnosis at different stages of treatment and recovery. The psychodiagnostic tools substantiated in the study make it possible to comprehensively examine psycho-emotional states, personality characteristics, psychological well-being, hardiness, self-acceptance, and internal resources of women with benign and malignant breast diseases. The developed and approbated comprehensive psychocorrectional program can be implemented in the practice of medical psychologists, psychotherapists, clinical psychologists, psycho-oncologists, as well as in the activities of psychological services of healthcare institutions and psychological support programs for cancer patients.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Keywords:	chronic disease, internal resources, quality of life, tolerance to uncertainty, psychological resilience, disease management and osmoregulation, expression of emotions, stress counteraction, coping strategies, psychological defense mechanisms, psychological technologies, psychoeducation, psychotherapy, psychological counseling, training program structure, training sessions.
Subjects:	Science and knowledge. Organization. Computer science. Information. Documentation. Librarianship. Institutions. Publications > 1 Philosophy. Psychology Science and knowledge. Organization. Computer science. Information. Documentation. Librarianship. Institutions. Publications > 6 Applied Sciences. Medicine. Technology > 61 Medical sciences
Divisions:	Institute of Psychology after N.Kostiuk > P. Chamata department of personality psychology
Depositing User:	Черненко Галина Федорівна
Date Deposited:	15 Jul 2026 10:16
Last Modified:	15 Jul 2026 10:16
URI:	https://lib.iitta.gov.ua/id/eprint/749690

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