Your new experience awaits. Try the new design now and help us make it even better

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.

Sec. Psycho-Oncology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1659902

How Mindfulness and Coping Styles Shape Anxiety and Depression in Metastatic Gastrointestinal Cancer

Provisionally accepted
Yasemin  Bakkal TemiYasemin Bakkal Temi1*Aila Gareayaghi  GareayaghiAila Gareayaghi Gareayaghi2Ece  BaydarEce Baydar1İlkay  Çıtakkulİlkay Çıtakkul1Devrim  ÇabukDevrim Çabuk1Umut  KefeliUmut Kefeli1Kazım  UygunKazım Uygun1
  • 1Department of Medical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Türkiye
  • 2Department of Psychiatry, Kocaeli University Faculty of Medicine, Kocaeli, Turkey, Kocaeli, Türkiye

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Objectives: Significant psychological distress is prevalent among patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer, underscoring the need to investigate the roles of mindfulness and coping strategies in shaping emotional outcomes. However, this relationship has not yet been sufficiently explored. Therefore this study aimed to investigate the associations between mindfulness, coping styles, and emotional distress (anxiety and depression) in individuals with advanced gastrointestinal cancer. ¶ Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 110 patients with stage IV gastrointestinal cancer who received palliative chemotherapy. Participants completed Turkish versions of the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, Mental Adjustment to Cancer scale, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected using a patient information form. Data were analyzed using non-parametric tests and correlation analyses to examine group differences and associations among study variables.¶ Results: Our findings indicated significant associations between trait mindfulness, coping strategies, and emotional symptoms. Specifically, trait mindfulness was positively correlated with adaptive This is a provisional file, not the final typeset article coping (r = 0.245, p = .010) and anxiety (r = 0.455, p < .001), whereas it was negatively correlated with maladaptive coping (r = −0.326, p = .001). Moreover, participants who employed maladaptive coping strategies reported lower levels of mindfulness. No significant differences in depression were observed between coping style groups. Notably, the positive correlation between adaptive coping strategies and anxiety symptoms highlights the complex nature of the coping mechanisms. Conclusion: These findings underscore the importance of contextualizing coping constructs, and suggest that mindfulness, despite its paradoxical relationship with anxiety, may mitigate reliance on maladaptive strategies. Routine psychological screening and personalized psychosocial support should be incorporated into oncological care to facilitate emotional adjustment.

Keywords: metastatic gastrointestinal cancer 1, Palliative Care 2, mindfulness 3, coping mechanisms 4, anxiety 5, depression6, emotional regulation7, psychological distress8

Received: 04 Jul 2025; Accepted: 04 Sep 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Bakkal Temi, Gareayaghi, Baydar, Çıtakkul, Çabuk, Kefeli and Uygun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Yasemin Bakkal Temi, Department of Medical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Türkiye

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.