Objectives: A diagnosis of breast cancer is considered a highly psychologically distressing event, and coping with the disease constitutes a major challenge. Levels of psychological distress are often very high immediately after diagnosis. Cervical cancer is the most common malignant tumor in the global gynecological reproductive tract system among.
Material and methods: The study was conducted among 155 females diagnosed with breast cancer and cervical cancer who underwent surgical treatment and took place between January 2024 and December 2025. The diagnostic survey method was employed, along with the following research tool: the Mental Adjustment to Cancer Scale (Mini-MAC), and self-administered questionnaire.
Results: Patients diagnosed with breast cancer achieved the highest scores in the fighting spirit domain (M = 22.1; SD = 3.0), whereas patients with cervical cancer obtained the highest scores in the anxious preoccupation strategy (M = 20.1; SD = 2.4). The domains of anxious preoccupation, fighting spirit, helplessness-hopelessness, and positive reappraisal, analyzed in relation to the type of total surgical procedure performed in breast cancer were most frequently differentiated by the sociodemographic factor of education level. Other sociodemographic variables influenced only individual coping strategies. The education level of the respondents in breast cancer also significantly affected the constructive and destructive coping styles as defined by the Mini-MAC.
Conclusions: The Mini-MAC showed that women with breast cancer more often activated a constructive coping style, and the highest scores in this group were observed for positive strategies. In contrast, women with cervical cancer more frequently activated a destructive coping style and negative strategies.
Keywords: adaptation to neoplastic disease; breast cancer; cervical cancer.