Mirov, Yu.A.

Background. Oncological diseases, particularly gynecological cancers, significantly affect the physical and psychological well-being of women, reducing their quality of life and exacerbating psychological distress. The study of savoring — the process of experiencing and enhancing positive moments — remains an underexplored yet important topic, especially in the context of maintaining psychological well-being in oncology patients.

Objective. The goal of the research is to conduct a comparative study of psychological well-being and the ability to savor positive moments among women with gynecological cancer and women without an oncological diagnosis.

Study Participants. The study included 203 women, 88 of whom were undergoing treatment for gynecological cancer, while 115 had no history of oncological diagnoses. The mean age of the participants was 49.9 years (SD = 8.6) and 45.7 years (SD = 10.0), respectively.

Methods. An online quasi-experiment was conducted, incorporating the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), and the Savoring Beliefs Inventory (SBI). Statistical analysis included the Mann — Whitney U-test, Student’s t-test, and methods of descriptive statistics.

Results. Women with gynecological oncological diseases demonstrated lower levels of life satisfaction, positive and negative explicit affects, and the ability to savor as compared to conditionally healthy women. The ability to savor the present and the past plays a compensatory role in oncological patients. This ability is significantly higher in conditionally healthy women as a whole, whereas in the sample of respondents with high levels of savoring, no differences in life satisfaction between oncological patients and conditionally healthy women were revealed.

Conclusions. The ability to savor positive events is an important resource for maintaining life satisfaction, particularly in the context of oncological disease. Enhancing the ability to savor the present may be an effective psychological support strategy for oncological patients, while fostering positive expectations and future planning appears to be more relevant for conditionally healthy women.