IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i16p10323-d892340.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mentalization and Its Relation to Life Satisfaction and the Level of Mental Adjustment to Illness in Women with Breast Cancer—A Pilot Study

Author

Listed:
  • Mariusz Cieślak

    (Institute of Psychology, University of Lodz, 90-136 Lodz, Poland)

  • Joanna Kozaka

    (Private Counseling Services Joanna Kozaka, 80-414 Gdansk, Poland)

  • Paulina Beata Golińska

    (Department of Neuropsychology, University of Gdansk, 80-309 Gdansk, Poland)

  • Mariola Bidzan

    (Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Gdansk, 80-309 Gdansk, Poland)

Abstract

This study’s aim was assessing of the relationship between mentalization and life satisfaction and the level of adaptation to oncological disease in patients with breast cancer. The study involved 41 women ( M = 59.88; SD = 8.81) with breast cancer who completed their treatments and participated in a cancer rehabilitation program. In the study, we used the Mentalization Questionnaire (MZQ), the Satisfaction Life Scale (SWLS), and the Mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer Scale (Mini-MAC). The mean of declared level of mentalization was 45.54 ( SD = 11.65). The significant correlation between mentalization (its general value and individual dimensions) and satisfaction with life/mental adjustment to cancer was observed. The strongest positive correlations were noted between refusing self-reflection, helplessness–hopelessness, and anxious preoccupation and the negative correlation between mentalization and satisfaction with life. Mentalization was a predictor of satisfaction with life and mental adjustment to illness. Mentalization was related with life satisfaction and adjustment to cancer in patients with breast cancer, which is in line with previous studies suggesting the crucial role of subjective psychological factors in maintaining mental health.

Suggested Citation

  • Mariusz Cieślak & Joanna Kozaka & Paulina Beata Golińska & Mariola Bidzan, 2022. "Mentalization and Its Relation to Life Satisfaction and the Level of Mental Adjustment to Illness in Women with Breast Cancer—A Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-11, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:16:p:10323-:d:892340
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/16/10323/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/16/10323/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:16:p:10323-:d:892340. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.