Abstract
Research shows that women of different ethnic groups vary in their psychosocial outcomes (e.g., body image, self-esteem, and quality of life) in response to cancer treatment, with Latinas reporting the least favorable outcomes. However, research has not investigated ethnic differences in psychosocial functioning in response to alopecia. The purpose of this study was to contribute to understanding the impact of alopecia on women cross culturally. A total of 125 women who have experienced chemotherapy induced alopecia (77 Caucasian and 48 Latina) participated in this study. Through the use of questionnaires, participants were encouraged to share their experiences following chemotherapy induced alopecia. The study examined the variation in Latina and Caucasian women's responses to hair loss and variation in coping strategies. The perceptions of participants with regard to chemotherapy induced alopecia were identified and discussed. It was predicted that alopecia would be negatively correlated with body image, quality of life and self-esteem for Latina and Caucasian women. Overall, the resulted showed that there were no significant findings indicating that alopecia will have a greater impact on body image, quality of life and self-esteem for either group. However, results did indicate that Caucasian women do engage in more attitude-based coping and action-oriented coping than Latina women. Implications for future research were also identified and discussed.