Resilience Among Breast Cancer Survivors of Different Sexual Orientations

Purpose: Resilience could help protect the psychosocial wellbeing of sexual minority women (SMW) experiencing stressors from both breast cancer and sexual minority status; however, little research has assessed resilience among breast cancer survivors of different sexual orientations. Methods: From 2011 to 2012, we surveyed a national sample of breast cancer survivors matched on sexual orientation, age, and cancer status. Results: Among heterosexual (n=339) and sexual minority (n=201) breast cancer survivors (n=540 overall), multivariable regression analyses revealed that more social support (coefficient: 0.87; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.56-1.19), fighting spirit combined with helplessness/hopelessness (coefficient: 0.30; 95% CI: 0.13-0.47), and fatalism (coefficient: 0.40; 95% CI: 0.14-0.65) were associated with greater resilience. Mental health counseling before breast cancer diagnosis and anxious preoccupation following cancer diagnosis were associated with reduced resilience (coefficient: -2.50; 95% CI: -3.83 to -1.18; and -0.46; 95% CI: -0.60 to -0.32). Although sexual orientation was not independently associated with resilience, among SMW, those who were unemployed had reduced resilience compared with those who were employed (coefficient: -3.52; 95% CI: -5.75 to -1.28), whereas there was no association between employment and resilience among heterosexual women. Conclusion: These findings suggest that social support and other factors associated with resilience could be leveraged by interventions to improve the health and wellbeing of diverse cancer survivors.