DISSERTATIONS - 2015

ENDOMETRIOSIS, A CORRELATIONAL STUDY: COPING STRATEGIES, DEPRESSION, STRESS AND PAIN

Lilian Donatti

Advisor: Prof. Dra. Denise Gimenez Ramos
Key words: endometriosis, psychosomatic, coping, depression, stress, pain.

Abstract:This study aimed to observe the correlation between coping strategies (coping), depression, stress levels and pain perception in patients with endometriosis.
As endometriosis is a psychosomatic disease, there is the need to assist the patients physically and mentally. In Brazil there is about 7 million women with endometriosis, and by searching studies in the literature involving endometriosis and psychology, few of them were found, especially in cases of studies that proposed some intervention methodologies. Thus, by watching how these variables are correlated, this research can provide the basis for future studies of how to propose an effective intervention model. The first hypotheses formulated were that patients with endometriosis using positive coping strategies have a better adaptation to stress, a better framework for depression and a lower perception of pain. One hundred seventy one patients diagnosed with undergoing endometriosis treatment were analyzed at Hospital das Clínicas de São Paulo at its Endometriosis Sector of Gynecology Clinic Division. They signed the consent form and filled coping scales (COPE BREVE), depression (Beck-II), stress (ISSL-Lipp) and pain (VAPS). The variables were treated statistically using chi-square tests, significance levels, divided into clusters and CHAID. It has been verified the ratio between the usage of positive strategies for coping with the decrease in depression and stress. Stress and depression are related, as higher is the stress frame, more serious is the manifestation of depression, which leads to psychological stress. As for the pain condition, it was observed that even without depression or no stress, the pain is still present in significant percentage of patients, but when there is a severe pain, prevail even more severe levels of depression and psychological stress.