Frequent search for sense by long-term breast cancer survivors associated with reduced HRQOL.

This study examined breast cancer survivors' reports of continuing efforts to make sense of their breast cancer experience and associations of such efforts with post-traumatic stress symptomology (PTSS) and long-term health related quality of life (HRQOL). A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 636 women in 2002-2003 two, five and ten years after their diagnosis of breast cancer. Only a minority of women with breast cancer reported frequently searching for sense in their cancer experience, or wondering "why did this happen to me?" two or more years after diagnosis. Controlling for key demographic and disease variables, greater involvement in search two, five and ten years post-diagnosis was associated with higher levels of PTSS (R2 = 0.26; p < 0.001) and with reduced HRQOL as measured using the SF-36 scale (p < 0.01 for all scales). It appears that continued efforts to search for sense in the cancer experience two or more years after cancer diagnosis are associated with PTSS and lower levels of HRQOL in long-term survivors of breast cancer.