Journal of Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences

Background & Aim: Cancer is one of the most important causes of mortality in the world. Nowadays, beside the biological and medical interventions, the possible effect of other factors in adaptation and efficacy of treatment measures has been considered. Thus, this research carried out to determine the relationships between hardiness with self-efficacy and personal control in cancer patients.

Methods: This is a descriptive/ cross sectional study which was conducted on 50 female with breast cancer referring to Omid hospital in Mashhad through convenience sampling. To collect data, hardiness, self-efficacy and disease perception questionnaires were used. Data was analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficients and regression.
Results: The mean age of studied group was 45.5 years. The results showed that there is a direct significant correlation between hardiness with self-efficacy (r=0.33, p=0.005) and personal control (r=0.19, p=0.007). In addition, hardiness explained 13% and 5% of variance in self-efficacy and personal control in cancer patients, respectively.
Conclusion: Based on the results, Self-efficacy and personal control are affected by hardness and can predict the behavior of patient facing with cancer disease and other chronic diseases. Since, hardiness and its factors are affected by the environment, the education of hardiness should be considered to increase patient's empowerment