The influence of stress and optimism on sleep quality in women with breast cancer

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of stress and optimism on the quality of sleep of women with breast cancer. Method: Cross-sectional correlational design. The instruments used were the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Perceived Stress Scale, and Life Guidance Scale. Participated in 60 patients with early stage of breast cancer, with no metastasis and an average age of 51.4 (± 9.3) years. Results: The patients obtained a mean of 7.5 (± 4.4) overall sleep qualityindex, where a higher score indicates a poor sleep quality, with a mean of 24.5 (± 9.5) for stress anda mean 37.6 (± 5.5) for optimism. There was a positive and significant correlation between stressand overall sleep quality (rs = 0.349, p = 0.006), and a negative and significant correlation betweenoptimism and sleep quality (rs = -0.524, p = 0.001). The optimism predicts the overall sleep quality by25.8%. Conclusion: In women with breast cancer in the early stages, the relationship between variablesindicates that higher stress lower quality of sleep, shorter sleep duration and more sleep disturbances.Regarding the variable of optimism, indicates that to greater optimism, higher subjective quality ofsleep, longer duration, and lower sleep latency and sleep disturbances. Therefore, it is concluded that inwomen with breast cancer, stress reduces sleep quality while optimism benefits directly.