Coping, Psychosocial Well-Being and Anxiety in Cancer Patients at Follow-up Visits

Abstract

Coping, psychosocial well-being, situation-specific anxiety and cancer-related worry were assessed in 197 consecutive cancer patients attending follow-up visits. Participants completed questionnaire on three occasions: at the follow-up visit, some days later (n = 175) and three weeks later (n = 125). High levels of coping styles 'Anxious Preoccupation' and 'Helplessness/Hopelessness' were associated with low levels of psychosocial well-being, more situation-specific anxiety and more cancer-related worry. High levels of 'Fighting Spirit' and 'Fatalistic' were found to be associated with high psychosocial well-being and, for 'Fighting Spirit', also with less cancer-related worry. Patients with a 'dismal' prognosis were found to have higher levels of 'Helplessness/Hopelessness' than patients with a more 'favorable' prognosis. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Anxiety, Depression and Worry in Gastrointestinal Cancer Patients Attending Medical Follow-Up Control Visits

“…Mean anxiety was 1.4 on the day before the visit, 1.5 in the morning, in the waiting room, and during the visit, and 1.1 some days after the visit. These findings confirm results from earlier studies (18,23,24). Women reported significantly higher anxiety levels during the visit (m = 2.0) than did men (m = 1.2) (t( 123) = 2.23, p < 0.05), but there were no significant differences at other time points.…”

The Opportunity for Psychiatry in Palliative Care

“…The situation is further complicated by the fact that many clinicians are unable to appropriately estimate their patients' levels of psychological distress. [48][49][50][51] A psychiatrist can help a palliative care team make the diagnosis. This is inherently difficult, as many of the typical symptoms of depression evolve over time and are confounded by the underlying illness and its treatment (for example, changes in weight, fatigue, sleep disturbances, decreased concentration, and altered appetite).…”

Evaluación de las alteraciones psicológicas y de la calidad de vida en pacientes con cáncer colorrectal localizado

“…Fue desarrollado originalmente para la evaluación de ajuste mental al cáncer, pero en los últimos estudios, autores han utilizado la escala MAC como una medida de estrategias de afrontamiento (Lampic et al, 1994;Schnoll, Mackinnon, Stolbach, y Lorman, 1995;Schwartz, Daltroy, Brandt, Friedman, y Stolbach, 1992) han utilizado la escala MAC como una medida de estrategias de afrontamiento.…”