International Research Journal of Oncology

Background: Currently, between 2 and 3 million non-melanoma skin cancers and 132,000 melanoma skin cancers occur globally each year. Skin cancer patients suffer from multiple psychological problems, including pain, body image disturbance and distress. Coping with these problems is a key for determining the quality of life for such patients.

Aim: To determine the impact of pain, body image disturbance, and distress on the degree of coping style in patients with skin cancer.

Methods: This study was cross sectional survey done on skin cancer patients who presented to the clinical oncology and nuclear medicine departments at Mansoura University Hospital (MUH) compared with healthy control people in the same age and gender. The study was run from March 2016 to June 2018. 39 patients were included to answer the questionnaires for Numerical Rating Scale for pain assessment (NRS), Body Image Scale (BIS), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and Brief Cope Scale, and compared to healthy group.

Results: There is no significant difference between skin cancer patients and healthy control group in the demographic data. There was significant difference in pain, body image, and Hospital Anxiety and depression scales between subject and control group. And this was also reflected as significant difference in all scales of Brief Cope in which healthy control group able to use most coping scales more than skin cancer group except substance abuse and self blame.

Conclusion: Pain, body image disturbance, anxiety, depression, and poor use of coping skills are significantly more common in skin cancer patients when compared to the healthy control group.