Perceived stress and coping in patients with head and neck cancer

Background: Head and neck cancer accounts for 30% of all cancers. The diagnosis with cancer imparts a lot of stress and the patient’s ability to cope with this stress reflects in their quality of life. Aim: To study perceived stress, coping and its correlation in patients with head and neck cancer. Materials and methods: The study was a case controlled study. After ethical clearance from institutional review board, 50 subjects with head and neck cancer, and 50 age and sex matched healthy controls from the same socio-cultural background were selected. Each group comprised of 30 males and 20 females between 21-70 years of age, and they were assessed with Perceived Stress Scale and Ways of Coping Questionnaire. Unpaired sample t-test and Spearman correlation were used, and results were obtained. Results: The study group had significantly higher stress than the controls (p<0.05), and using confrontive coping, accepting responsibility, and escape avoidance as coping strategy had positive correlation with perceived stress (p<0.05), while seeking social support and positive reappraisal as coping strategy had negative correlation (p<0.05). Conclusion: Patients with head and neck cancer have a significantly high stress, and maladaptive coping may further aggravate this stress.