TY - JOUR
T1 - The impact of cancer
T2 - An Italian descriptive study involving 500 long-term cancer survivors
AU - Muzzatti, Barbara
AU - Gipponi, Katiuscia
AU - Flaiban, Cristiana
AU - Cormio, Claudia
AU - Carnaghi, Carlo
AU - Tralongo, Paolo
AU - Caruso, Michele
AU - Cavina, Raffaele
AU - Tirelli, Umberto
AU - Annunziata, Maria Antonietta
PY - 2019/5
Y1 - 2019/5
N2 - Introduction: The well-being and quality of life (QoL) of long-term cancer survivors may be affected, both positively and negatively, by psychosocial factors related to the experience of being a cancer patient. We investigated whether, in long-term cancer survivors, the psychosocial impacts of cancer associate with socio-demographic–clinical variables; whether, within the positive and negative dimensions taken separately, some impacts are more intense than others; and whether these impacts explain QoL. Methods: Italian long-term cancer survivors (n = 500) completed the Impact of Cancer (IOC-V2) and Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaires. Results: The IOC-V2 negative impact score associated with gender, education, occupational status and health issues, whereas no association was found between the positive impact score and socio-demographic–clinical variables. Of the positive impacts, Altruism/Empathy was the highest (p < 0.001); Positive self-evaluation was higher than Health awareness (p = 0.001); and Meaning of cancer was the lowest (p < 0.001). Among the negative impacts, Worry was the highest (p < 0.001), whereas Body changes concerns was higher than both Appearance concerns (p < 0.001) and Life Interferences (p < 0.001). The assessed impacts explained more than 25% of the variance of both physical and mental functioning scores. Conclusions: The provided data document psychosocial factors affecting QoL in Italian long-term cancer survivors.
AB - Introduction: The well-being and quality of life (QoL) of long-term cancer survivors may be affected, both positively and negatively, by psychosocial factors related to the experience of being a cancer patient. We investigated whether, in long-term cancer survivors, the psychosocial impacts of cancer associate with socio-demographic–clinical variables; whether, within the positive and negative dimensions taken separately, some impacts are more intense than others; and whether these impacts explain QoL. Methods: Italian long-term cancer survivors (n = 500) completed the Impact of Cancer (IOC-V2) and Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaires. Results: The IOC-V2 negative impact score associated with gender, education, occupational status and health issues, whereas no association was found between the positive impact score and socio-demographic–clinical variables. Of the positive impacts, Altruism/Empathy was the highest (p < 0.001); Positive self-evaluation was higher than Health awareness (p = 0.001); and Meaning of cancer was the lowest (p < 0.001). Among the negative impacts, Worry was the highest (p < 0.001), whereas Body changes concerns was higher than both Appearance concerns (p < 0.001) and Life Interferences (p < 0.001). The assessed impacts explained more than 25% of the variance of both physical and mental functioning scores. Conclusions: The provided data document psychosocial factors affecting QoL in Italian long-term cancer survivors.
KW - cancer survivorship
KW - impact of cancer
KW - Neoplasm
KW - oncology
KW - quality of life
KW - well-being
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U2 - 10.1111/ecc.13007
DO - 10.1111/ecc.13007
M3 - Article
C2 - 30740807
AN - SCOPUS:85061428381
VL - 28
JO - European Journal of Cancer Care
JF - European Journal of Cancer Care
SN - 0961-5423
IS - 3
M1 - e13007
ER -