How daughters of women with breast cancer cope with the threat of the illness

Coping strategies and attitudes toward medical treatment of 45 daughters of women who had had breast cancer were compared with strategies (sense of coherence) and attitudes on a health opinion survey of 51 women with no such family history who were referred to a breast health clinic in northern Israel. The daughters of women with breast cancer ranked lower on sense of coherence than the women with no such history. They also were more actively involved in the medical setting and requested more medical information than women whose mothers did not have breast cancer. The age of the daughter at the time her mother's cancer was diagnosed predicted her level of coherence and attitudes toward treatment.