Event: XIII National Congress of the Research Group in Psychosomatics -RGP
13-14 Luglio 2023
Contribution: Narrative reappraisal strategies in the relationship between self-care and emotional activation in women who participate to mammographic screening.
Authors: Maria Luisa Martino, Daniela Lemmo, Marcella Bianchi, Anna Rosa Donizzetti, Maria Francesca Freda, Daniela Caso
Abstract: Background: Within a biopsychosocial and integrated mind-body framework, emotions and affects represent the drivers of the process of taking care of one’s health, where the style of emotional regulation acquires a mediating role in participation in cancer prevention practices. Specifically, the cognitive reappraisal strategy makes it possible to maintain a condition of internal balance capable of supporting health choices, regulating affect and physiological arousal through the subjective commitment aimed at thinking about a critical situation, transforming its meaning and impact of emotional response. Methods: Within a broader MIRIADE research-intervention project, 62 women participated in a narrative interview at the end of the mammography at the Local Health Units of the Campania Region. Embracing a processual and dynamic perspective of the relationship between the subject and cancer screening practices, this study aims to narratively explore which emotions are experienced and prefigured, their intensity and the reappraisal narrative strategies used by women in order to manage the emotions felt during the different phases of the process of participation in the screening: before the appointment-T1; during mammography-T2; waiting to receive the results-T3. The narratives were analysed through a reflective thematic analysis. Results: The results highlight the presence of emotions mainly with a negative valence and with high intensity in T1, terror, fear, vigilance, anguish, whose intensity and valence are mitigated in T2 and T3. The narrative strategies of narrative reappraisal used by women to be able to manage the value and intensity of these emotions will be discussed, overcoming the risk of blocking preventive action. Conclusion: The results offer new insights to guide psychological interventions aimed at promoting active participation in breast cancer screening.