Self‐acceptance and associated factors among Chinese women with breast cancer

Aims and objectives To identify self‐acceptance and associated socio‐demographic and disease factors among Chinese women with breast cancer. Background Although it is recognised that breast cancer can affect a woman's feelings of self‐acceptance, there are few studies concerning the level of self‐acceptance among women with breast cancer and factors associated with self‐acceptance in this population. Design Cross‐sectional research design. Methods Data were collected using the convenience sampling method. A total of 308 women with breast cancer were investigated using the Self‐Acceptance Questionnaire. Results The mean score on the Self‐Acceptance Questionnaire was 39·79 ± 5·14, indicating that the women in this study had low levels of self‐acceptance. Multiple regression analysis indicated that self‐acceptance was positively associated with the time since diagnosis, household income and the presence of medical insurance/government‐funded medical treatment, while Tumour, Lymph Node, Metastasis stage was negatively associated with self‐acceptance. With respect to work status, retired patients had the highest levels of self‐acceptance, those who had returned to work had moderate levels of self‐acceptance and those who had not yet returned to work had the lowest levels of self‐acceptance. Conclusions This study demonstrates that the level of self‐acceptance among women with breast cancer in China is low, and suggests that there is room to improve. Several factors are significantly associated with the self‐acceptance of women with breast cancer. Relevance to clinical practice Medical staff should realise that the level of self‐acceptance among women with breast cancer in China is low and has room to improve. It is important to conduct appropriate interventions to improve self‐acceptance among these women, based on an understanding of the factors associated with self‐acceptance.