Surviving Breast Cancer: The Dynamics of Inflammation, Emotion, and Family
Why do some women survive longer after a breast cancer diagnosis? Patients with better emotion regulation skills, or who have families that are able to help them regulate their emotions effectively, may be at an advantage.
This study addresses two questions: 1) Does higher emotional acceptance (a form of individual emotion regulation) prevent a pattern of coupled, escalating emotional distress and inflammation from developing? 2) Does higher emotional coregulation (a form of family-level emotion regulation) reduce the connection between emotional distress and lower chances of survival?
Answers to these questions will help us to predict cancer outcomes for individual patients and to develop integrated biological-psychological interventions.
The three year, $408,000 grant begins January 1, 2013. Congratulations Emily!
Read more about Emily Butler at http://cals.arizona.edu/fcs/faculty/emily_butler
