Distorções cognitivas em pacientes oncológicos: psicoeducação por meio dos coping cards

Abstract

This research aimed to build an instrument based on psychoeducation of cognitive distortions associated with cancer experience, through the adaptation of J. Beck s coping cards technique for the psychotherapeutic treatment of cancer patients. Starting from the psychoeducation, the instrument assessed cognitive distortions and psychoeducated cancer patients through the neutralizing beliefs that work in the restructuring of distorted thoughts commonly observed in this context. So, sentences containing elements related to cognitive distortions catastrophizing, emotional reasoning, polarization, selective abstraction, mental reading, labeling, disqualification of the positive, customization, hipergeneralization, imperative and questionalization were built. The method used to verify the presence of thought distortions and neutralizing beliefs was a proof of judges divided into two parts, A (analysis of cognitive distortions) and B (analysis of neutralizing beliefs). Twenty psychologists experts in cognitive-behavioral therapy (5 of them working in Health Psychology) took part in this study. Participants were required to answer Part A (22 questions) and Part B (22 questions) and a general data questionnaire, both computerized. The binomial test showed that both Part A and Part B are valid to measure cognitive distortions and neutralizing beliefs, with Cronbach alpha above 0.7. The proportional analysis of the cancer-related cognitive distortions showed that they are susceptible to a wide variety of distortions, which show complementary to each other, especially when judged by health psychologists. New studies should investigate the prevalence of certain cognitive distortions in cancer patients, involving the testing of this instrument, improving the therapeutic work with use of more adaptive strategies in treatment of cancer and the detection of limiting beliefs in this process.