Resilience as a predictor of depresion in women breast cancer

Breast cancer diagnosis involves, in many cases, a traumatic event experience that increases vulnerability to suffer mental disorders such depression. However, despite the suffering, women are more strengthened and resilient after overcoming with disease. The purpose of this study was: 1) To explore depression and resilience in women survivors of breast cancer survivors and women without cancer, and 2) To analyze the explanatory and predictive ability of resilience on depression, controlling for the effect of cancer diagnosis and women’s age. The sample consisted of 110 women (40.9% breast cancer survivors, 50.9% women without cancer) whose average age was 44.27 (SD= 11.79; range= 22-69). The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale –HADS-57- (Zigmond Snaith, 1983; Spanish versión by Rico, Restrepo Molina, 2006) and the Resilience Scale (Wagnild Young, 1993; Spanish versión by Novella, 2002) were administered. The analysis of the variance revealed how survivors showed, in a statistically significant way, higher levels of resilience (F[1,108]=9.82; p.01), but not in depression (F[1,108]=2.81; p.05). A stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated that resilience explained 28% of the variance in depression (R2=.28), being its predictive ability negative and statistically significant (β=-.09). This explanatory capacity was increased significantly in model 2 (R2=.31) due to the effect of having been diagnosed with cancer. These data provide empirical support concerning the need to address problems that lead to depression in breast cancer survivors. Specifically, enhacing resilience as a protective factor will cushion the impact of cancer on the development of depressive symptomatology, facilitating the adaptation and prevention of emotional disorders once the disease has been overcom