Project 3: Case Study Analysis Final Submission

Katya is a first year student with a B average grade. Though she studies hard she still goes
through severe anxiety attacks before exams because she doesnt think that shes doing enough.
Her semester is coming to an end and if she doesnt pass her chemistry exam shell lose her
scholarship. This afternoon while studying Katya had a panic attack from worrying so much. The
test is in two days and she really needs help. In order to help Katya regain her self-efficacy I
would study with her to narrow out what she knows and what she needs to work on.
Its hard to trust ourselves when were in so much pressure and so stressed out. From experience
I know that when Im under a lot of pressure, I would stress out and panic and I would doubt
myself because I so desperately want everything to be perfect that I had a hard time
concentrating. Then I found a classmate who was also looking for someone to study with so we
teamed up. While studying with others I was able to stay focused and not let my panic attack
take over because my teammate would reassure me when Im right and let me know what I need
to work on.
I have a friend and mentor who live a pretty stressful life before she was diagnosed with cancer.
About 3-4 years before she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she and her husband were
unemployed, so they decided that she and their daughters would move to Taiwan where she can
open a retail store and her husband would look for a job in the United States. At the time she had
no families who could help her so she would take care of everything herself and money was very
tight. Two years later, her husband was offered a better job with a higher pay so they all moved
back. While they were back in the U.S. she worked part-time because she wanted to be there for
her daughters. She also decided to enroll into PCC hoping to finally get her B.A. degree so she
can get a higher paying job. She worked and took care of her family during the day and went to
classes and study at night. She barely had any time to sleep, not to mention time to find an outlet
for the stress she was carrying. One day, about a year after returning to the U.S., she felt a lump
in her breast while she was bathing so she went for a checkup. She was told she had breast
cancer. She was the first one in her family who has breast cancer, so it wasnt hereditary. They
were given options and she decided to have a mastectomy. Luckily for her everything went well
she said, so she went back to what she was doing trying to make the most out of herself. She said
during her return to college her lifestyle became so stressful because she was trying to live up to
the expectation of what her life should have been if she had finished college before having her
daughters. She felt that she has to keep up her good grades so she can transfer to a great
university. Half a year later she was diagnosed with uterine cancer where unfortunately they had
to remove her uterus, she was devastated, she stopped going to college and she was afraid to
continue on. One day, in one of her counselling sessions, everyone was talking about hobbies,
activities and exercises they did to help let out their stress and she noticed that she had none, she
never took the time to relax or meditate. That was what was missing in her life, which was why
her health was off balance.
We all have other things in our life besides school that stresses us out and it is important to
alleviate your outlet before it builds up. I would suggest to Katya that we take and compare notes
in class and go to the library or somewhere we cant be distracted to study out of the classroom.
In the future, I would suggest that she find someone whom she can study with, to compare notes
and practice test, to meet up once or twice a week. By going through their note and studying
weekly she would avoid having too much material to cover at the end. If she is doing her best
then she needs to trust herself and if her strategies still doesnt work, then she needs to talk to
someone, but if its her stress thats not getting better then shell have to get professional help.
As a woman, we all have our fair share of stress and anxiety, knowing when to stop and relax is
the key to really better ourselves. Studies show that anxiety is related to a persons diagnosis and
treatment of cancer. Studies also show that common methods of alleviating anxiety such as
educational, psychotherapeutical and social support groups only generate nominal results. The
latest proposed method of treatment has been a habitual exercise and the results have been
promising though limited in scope. As these findings were positive, the researchers decided to
expand the breadth of research to include individuals without a cancer diagnosis. The results of
the test show that light to moderate intensity exercise decreases anxiety for breast cancer
survivors and those without a cancer diagnosis. This site was chosen because the notion of
finding new methods to decrease anxiety for suffers seems a noble effort and a positive
contribution to society. Also a very close friend and mentor of mine had breast and uterine
cancer.
If I were in Katyas place I would not seek professional help until I try everything else first.
Sometimes something as easy as setting up a study plan can make thing so much easier and
avoid the anxiety and stress as we get closer to the deadline. If other factors like depression is
affecting my ability to concentrate I would seek professional help. From a health perspective, I
can make it a routine to exercise at home or take an exercising class at school where I can work
on relieving my stress. Getting good grades is something that can be accomplished by working
hard and with every test, grade and class we pass, we can be sure that our self-efficacy will
progress.
Lastly, some good ways to form realistic expectations before beginning each semester would be
to revise what we did last semester and point out what didnt work out and make corrections to
improve it. Also make plans to distribute the workload in order to minimize the load and be
organized will give us time to relax and enjoy other things in life.
APA Citation:
Blacklock, R., Rhodes, R., Blanchard, C., & Gaul, C. (2010). Effects of Exercise Intensity and
Self-Efficacy on State Anxiety with Breast Cancer Survivors. Oncology Nursing Forum, 37(2),
206-212. doi:10.1188/10.ONF.206-212
Link: http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezp.pasadena.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=27365583-
fd22-42be-8534-01126c5a5aee%40sessionmgr4001&vid=20&hid=4201
APA Citation:
Burgess, C., Cornelius, V., Love, S., Graham, J., Richards, M., & Ramirez, A. (2005).
Depression and anxiety in women with early breast cancer: five year observational cohort
study. Bmj, 330(7493), 702.
Link: http://www.bmj.com/content/330/7493/702?variant=full-text

APA Citation:
Hudson, M. M., Mertens, A. C., Yasui, Y., Hobbie, W., Chen, H., Gurney, J. G., ... & Childhood
Cancer Survivor Study Investigators. (2003). Health status of adult long-term survivors of
childhood cancer: a report from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study. Jama, 290(12), 1583-
1592.
Link: http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/18/24/4060.short