Concerns about cancer recurrence in Mexican women breast cancer survivors. Psychometric properties of the CARS scale

• Published in: Ciencias psicológicas Vol. 17; no. 1; pp. 207 - 219
• Main Authors: Rojas Russell, Mario Enrique, Costas Muñiz, Rosario, Bargalló Rocha, Juan Enrique, Meneses García, Abelardo, Galindo Vázquez, Oscar, Ramírez Orozco, Mónica, Robles García, Rebeca
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Portuguese
• Published: Facultad de Psicología - Universidad Católica del Uruguay 2023; Universidad Católica del Uruguay
• Subjects: ansiedad; ansiedade; Anxiety; Breast Cancer; cáncer de mama; câncer de mama; Fear of recurrence; medo da recorrência; Mexico; miedo a la recurrencia; México; PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY; PSYCHOLOGY, PSYCHOANALYSIS; PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL; sobrevivência; SOCIAL SCIENCES, INTERDISCIPLINARY; supervivencia; Survival; sobrevivência; câncer de mama; survival; ansiedade; México; breast cancer; cáncer de mama; supervivencia; fear of recurrence; anxiety; ansiedad; Mexico; medo da recorrência; miedo a la recurrencia
• ISSN: 1688-4221; 1688-4094; 1688-4221
• DOI: 10.22235/cp.v17i1.2777

Fear of recurrence is one of the main affectations of cancer survivors. In Latin-American exist a lack of evidence on the subject and of valid instruments to measure it. The objective of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the Concerns About Recurrence Scale in Mexican breast cancer survivors. An instrumental study was carried out with 200 women breast cancer survivors with a mean age of 53 years old and a mean survival of 52.5 months. A confirmatory factor analysis of the original version of the scale identified four factors that explained 77 % of the variance and satisfactory goodness of fit indicators: CFI = .967, TLI = .957, SRMR = .035, RMSEA = .071 as well as high internal consistency α = .945. Significant associations were also identified between general fear subscale, anxiety subscale of the HADS and total HADS score (r = .638 and r = .607; p = .01). The CARS presented adequate validity, reliability and factorial structure. It is recommended for usage in clinical care and research with Mexican breast cancer survivors.