What predicts adjustment to aging among older women in breast cancer remission? The influence of subjective well-being, sense of coherence, and socio-demographic, lifestyle and health-related factors

Abstract

Objectives

To build a structural model to explore the predictors of adjustment to aging (AtA) reported by older women in breast cancer remission.

Methods

Older women in breast cancer remission (n = 214) aged between 75 and 94 years participated in this study. A questionnaire to determine socio-demographic (age, income, professional and marital status, education, household, living setting and self-reported spirituality), lifestyle and health-related characteristics (physical activity, leisure, perceived health, recent disease and medication), and measures to assess AtA, sense of coherence and subjective well-being, were employed. Structural equation modeling was used to explore a structural model of the self-reported AtA, encompassing all variables.

Results

Preliminary results indicated that self-reported spirituality (β = .397; P < .001), leisure (β = .383; P < .001), physical activity (β = .267; P < .001), perceived health (β = .211; P < .001), marital status (β = .173; P < .001), professional status (β = .156; P = .009), sense of coherence (β = .138; P < .001), and living setting (β = .129; P = .007), predicted AtA. The variables accounted for 79.2% of the variability of AtA.

Conclusion

Self-reported spirituality and leisure were the strongest predictors of AtA. Our preliminary findings suggest that health care interventions with older women in breast cancer remission still living in the community may benefit from clearly including predictors of AtA, as these are essential for promoting older women’ s aging well.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.