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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychology for Clinical Settings
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1443635
This article is part of the Research Topic Between Emotional Regulation and Dysregulation: Perspectives, Interventions, Tools and Technologies for Psychological Well-Being View all 4 articles

How to improve emotional regulation in breast cancer survivors? a Psychological Intervention

Provisionally accepted
Valeria Sebri Valeria Sebri 1*Giulia R. Policardo Giulia R. Policardo 2Gabriella Pravettoni Gabriella Pravettoni 1
  • 1 European Institute of Oncology (IEO), Milan, Italy
  • 2 University of Florence, Florence, Tuscany, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: Psychological interventions are pivotal in enhancing the Quality of Life for breast cancer survivors, with a primary focus on addressing affective and cognitive challenges through group discussions among those diagnosed with the disease. While the influence of Body Image on overall well-being is well-documented, research on interventions specifically designed to address Body Image concerns in this demographic remains scarce. The present study aimed to fill this gap by evaluating the outcomes of a psychological intervention focused on fostering a positive Body Image among 25 breast cancer survivors. Method: Participants were divided into an experimental group, which received the intervention (n=13), and a control group that did not receive any psychological support (n=12). Results: Our findings highlight significant disparities in emotional regulation strategies, specifically cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, with the intervention group reporting enhanced emotional regulation. Contrary to initial hypotheses, the analysis unveiled statistically significant differences in both negative (social physique anxiety) and positive (functionality appreciation) body image dimensions, indicating elevated levels of social physique anxiety and reduced functionality appreciation among intervention participants. Conclusions: The total results may suggest that the intervention, while effective in enhancing emotional regulation, heightened awareness of body image issues, leading to increased social physique anxiety and diminished functionality appreciation. The paper further discusses practical implications arising from these insights.

    Keywords: breast cancer survivors, emotional regulation, psychological intervention, Positive body image, Quality of Life

    Received: 04 Jun 2024; Accepted: 02 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Sebri, Policardo and Pravettoni. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Valeria Sebri, European Institute of Oncology (IEO), Milan, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.