Abstract
Because being diagnosed with cancer is considered to be extremely stressful, cancer patients' mental adjustment has been widely studied. Previous studies have revealed that cancer patients' mental adjustment is correlated with the quality of life and the degree of psychological distress and have suggested that one of the most adaptive adjustments is 'fighting spirit' whereas one of the most maladaptive is 'helplessness/hopelessness'. However, little is known about the association between patients' mental adjustment to cancer and their spouses characteristics or social support network. This paper describes a study of cancer patients' characteristics and social support factors as predictors of the patients' responses to having cancer. A total of 455 ambulatory cancer patients completed the Mental Adjustment to Cancer (MAC) scale and participated in a structured interview about their characteristics and social support. The results of multiple regression analysis suggested that size of household, performance status, support from physicians and satisfaction with support were predictive of patients' fighting spirit, whereas age, education, size of household, performance status and satisfaction with support were predictive of helplessness/hopelessness.
Highlights
The objective of this study was to investigate whether cancer patients' characteristics and social support are predictive of the two types of mental adjustment that have consistently been considered to be the most beneficial and most deleterious, respectively, in previous studies (Watson et al, 1984; Greer et al, 1990; Schwartz et al, 1992; Evans et al, 1993; Grassi et al, 1993; Ferrero et al, 1994; Lampic et al, 1994; Schnoll et al, 1995)
Our previous study disclosed that the Japanese version of the Mental Adjustment to Cancer (MAC) scale is valid and reliable (Akechi et al, 1997). We focused on these two types of mental adjustment because fighting spirit has been shown to be the most beneficial response, whereas helplessness/hopelessness has been consistently suggested to be the most deleterious response
The results of the study suggest that several patient characteristics and social support factors are correlated with mental adjustment
Summary
The objective of this study was to investigate whether cancer patients' characteristics and social support are predictive of the two types of mental adjustment that have consistently been considered to be the most beneficial and most deleterious, respectively, in previous studies (Watson et al, 1984; Greer et al, 1990; Schwartz et al, 1992; Evans et al, 1993; Grassi et al, 1993; Ferrero et al, 1994; Lampic et al, 1994; Schnoll et al, 1995)
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