Psychosocial Predictors of Quality of Life in Hematological Cancer

Abstract

The improvement of health related Quality of Life (QOL) has become one of the main objectives of psychological interventions in cancer. The aim of this study was to analyze sociodemographic and psychosocial variables that predict the different components of QOL in a sample of 69 hemato-oncological patients. Depression, social support, disease-related stress situations, coping strategies and optimism were taken as psychosocial predictors. QOL was evaluated with the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). With respect to sociodemographic variables, results showed that age and time from the diagnosis were associated with a decrease in QOL, while educational level and having a partner were associated with less pain and better mental health. With respect to negative-affecting psychosocial variables, depression was associated with general health and social functioning, the coping strategy of stoicism was associated with physical and emotional roles, the number of disease-related stress situations was associated with pain, and the feeling of negative emotions associated with the illness was associated with mental health. Social support and optimism were positively associated with vitality. These results have clear clinical implications for psychological interventions aimed to improve QOL in hemato-oncological patients.

Distress and unmet needs during treatment and quality of life in early cancer survivorship: A longitudinal study of haematological cancer patients

“…While our scores for overall QoL and functional QoL were similar to those obtained for the general population, scores for PWB (22.4 [SD = 4.9] vs 25.1 [SD = 3.7]) and EWB subscales (20.7 [SD = 3.5] vs 21.2 [SD = 3.7]) in our study were significantly lower than in the general population . This pattern of results is consistent with other studies . Additionally, social QoL in our study was higher than levels found in the general population.…”

“…Sherman et al reported that physical functioning and energy were affected far more than the mental health functioning. The results also compare with Pulgar et al's study that reported diminished QoL outcomes on all subscales such as physical and emotional functioning although their sample consisted of mixed haematological cancer patients including myeloma, leukaemia and lymphoma who and were between <1 year and >2 years postdiagnosis. In another study of haematological patients approximately 5 years postdiagnosis, Molassiotis et al reported lower physical and social functioning but higher emotional functioning compared to healthy adults.…”

Gender Differences in Predictors of Quality of Life at the Initiation of Radiation Therapy

“…This difference may be explained partially by the fact that her sample of men was relatively small (n=34), her CES-D scores were considerably higher in both gender groups than ours, and she entered only two predictors into her regression models. Our group and many others have reported that higher depressive symptoms were associated with a lower QOL (Bower, 2008; Brown & Roose, 2011; Dodd et al, 2011; Dunn et al, 2011; Fann et al, 2008; Miaskowski et al, 2014; Osann et al, 2014; Pud, 2011; Pulgar, Alcala, & Reyes del Paso, 2013; Roland et al, 2013) and other adverse outcomes, including reduced adherence to treatment and other health behaviors (DiMatteo, Lepper, & Croghan, 2000) and increased perception of pain and other symptoms (Dunn et al, 2011; Fann et al, 2008; Gaston-Johanssen, Ohly, Fall-Dickson, Nanda, & Kennedy, 1999; Huang, Chen, Liang, & Miaskowski, 2014). Our findings reinforce the need for clinicians to assess for and treat depressive symptoms in cancer patients at the beginning RT.…”

The Mediating Role of Mental Adjustment in the Relationship between Perceived Stress and Depressive Symptoms in Hematological Cancer Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Various reasons have been suggested for the experience of mental distress. In addition to the cancer itself as a source of mental stress in cancer patients, the symptoms burden of patients, fear of cancer recurrence, and even quality of life are also among the other contributions to stress [ 36 , 41 , 45 , 46 ]. It is the fact that patients who were suffering from cancers feel themselves having a need to cope with the challenge events.…”