Hope in the Context of Lung Cancer: Relationships of Hope to Symptoms and Psychological Distress

Abstract

Context-Hope may be important in explaining the variability in how patients adjust to lung cancer.Objectives-The aim of this study was to examine how hope, as conceptualized by Snyder and colleagues, is associated with multiple indices of adjustment to lung cancer. This theoretical model of hope suggests that people with high levels of hope are able to think about the pathways to goals (pathways) and feel confident that they can pursue those pathways to reach their goals (agency).Methods-We hypothesized that higher levels of hope, as measured by Snyder et al.'s hope scale, would be related to lower levels of pain and other lung cancer symptoms (i.e., fatigue, cough) and lower psychological distress (i.e., depression). Participants in this study included patients with a diagnosis of lung cancer (n = 51). All participants provided demographic and medical information and completed measures of hope, lung cancer symptoms, and psychological distress.Results-Data analyses found that hope was inversely associated with major symptoms of cancer (i.e., pain, fatigue, cough) and psychological distress (i.e., depression), even after accounting for important demographic and medical variables (i.e., age, cancer stage). Conclusion-The findings of this cross-sectional study highlight the potential importance of hope in understanding adjustment to lung cancer. Future longitudinal research could help reveal how hope and adjustment interact over the course of cancer survivorship.

Esperança de vida de pacientes com câncer submetidos à quimioterapia

“…(13) Emphasis is also given to pain intensity, as the findings of this study show that patients with lesser degrees of pain have greater hope, a similar result to the findings of another study, using a different scale, conducted with patients suffering from lung cancer. (14) Despite such comparisons, the authors of a study conducted in Canada, with patients with newly diagnosed cancer, affirm that the findings in the literature cannot provide a clear relationship when it comes to pain and maintaining hope, and more research in this direction is needed. (15) It is likely that the correlation between pain and hope identified in this study resulted from this symptom in cancer patients as an important factor of suffering and the incapacities of these patients, including causing them to lose the ability to perform simple tasks and even leading to losses in the spiritual, social and emotional contexts, which become neglected during physical suffering.…”

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