Cancer Related Fatigue and Optimism in Cancer Patients

Abstract

Summary: The symptoms of fatigue and exhaustion are considered to be the most common complaints amongpatients with malignant diseases during the process of treatment and upon its completion. The manifestations offatigue can be physical, cognitive and emotional. Particularly interesting are the risk factors for the emergence offatigue which persists for months or years upon the completion of the treatment. A number of studies have discussedthe significance of the psychological factors such as the personality traits, the person’s behaviour and the lifestyle.Objective: To examine the burden of fatigue among patients with malignant diseases undergoing radiotherapy andlong-term survivors and determine the effect of optimism on the burden of fatigue among them. Method: Aquestionnaire; MFI-20-A multidimensional questionnaire on fatigue; Method of examining the generalizedexpectations about the valence of the obtained results. 66 people with a confirmed oncological diagnosis wereincluded in the study, 36 of whom were undergoing radiotherapy at the time of the study. 30 of the examined peoplehave undergone radiotherapy and are presently long-term survivors who have lived over five years after beingdiagnosed with the disease. Conclusion: The patients that were undergoing radiotherapy at that time manifestedmore evident symptoms of fatigue within the dimensions of decreased motivation and decreased activity compared tothe patients belonging to the group of the long-term survivors. Optimism and the negative expectations correlatesignificantly with the dimensions of fatigue in both groups of patients, as the most obvious is the negative correlationof optimism with the decreased activity and the decreased motivation. The presence of optimism and low negativeexpectations within the personality profile of patients with oncological diseases suggests lower levels of fatigueregardless of the stage of the disease and the conducted treatment.