Autoestima e qualidade de vida de mulheres submetidas à cirurgia oncológica de mama há pelo menos um ano.

Abstract

Introduction: currently, in Brazil, breast cancer is a public health problem. It represents the most common neoplasm in females, except for non-melanoma skin cancer. Diagnostic confirmation causes in women, a new identity, because the breast is considered a symbol of bodily beauty, fertility, femininity and health, in all stages of life. When there is a threat of losing this organ, women, regardless of their age, feel like their identity is being questioned, as well as their ability to breastfeed and their sensuality. It causes, thus, emotional changes such as nervousness, irritation, uncertainty and conflict, besides the modifications in self-concept and body image. Objective: to examine self-esteem and quality of life of women who were submitted to breast cancer surgery, at least one year ago, in a hospital. Methodology: cross-sectional observational study with quantitative approach. For data collection, three instruments were used: the first containing questions about sociodemographic and clinical data, posteriorly, the Rosenberg scale was applied to assess self-esteem, and then, to evaluate the quality of life, the Portuguese abbreviated version of the instrument Assessment of Quality of Life of the World Health Organization, the WHOQOL-bref was used. Results: 37 women participated in the study, most aged between 41 and 50 years, were married, catholic, and had low education; among workers, most had not returned to work yet, and family income was, an average, of R$ 1,646.49 per month. Regarding clinical aspects, most were submitted to conservative surgery performed on the left side (the average time length since the procedure was done was 31.7 months) and received complementary treatments, mainly the hormone therapy. Concerning self-esteem, the average was 30.32, equivalent to an average self-esteem, and Cronbach's alpha of 0.77. There was moderate and positive correlation between self-esteem and education level. In relation to the quality of life, the most affected domain was the environment, followed by physical, psychological and social domains. When the relation between quality of life, sociodemographic and clinical variables is analyzed, it was only identified a correlation between the social domain and family income and between environmental domain and age (both cases with moderate positive correlations). In addition, there was a moderate correlation between the self-esteem and the environmental domain and strong correlation between the self-esteem and the physical and psychological domains. A statistically significant relationship between the social domain and family income was observed, as well as between the environmental domain and age. In addition, there was a strong correlation between self-esteem and the physical and psychological domains. Conclusion: despite the lapse from one to three years since surgery, women still show feelings of worthlessnes (self-esteem average) and have financial and physical limitations, mainly, that impact on their quality of life (confirmed by the average quality of life in the domains: 58.8 points). Although there are peculiarities among them, there are certain common characteristics that allow the performance of the health professional in a precocious and preventive way, aiming to reduce the impact of cancer in women's lives.