Psychological Distress and Adversarial Growth among Cancer Patients

Abstract

The diagnosis of cancer and its treatment is a traumatizing occurrence that creates psychological distress in almost all cancer patients. The psychological distress that these patients experience could reduce their responsiveness to the treatment they are undergoing and could lead to protracted hospitalization. In order to provide the best possible care and interventions to patients battling cancer, it is paramount to identify the patients who over the course of the disease are most likely to experience psychological distress. Thus, the present study was intended to examine the relationship between psychological distress and adversarial growth among cancer patients and to understand whether sex influences the variables under study. Methods: A prospective cohort of patients with cancer (n?=?230) were recruited from public hospitals in Goa. A convenient sampling technique was employed. The tools used for data collection were the brief symptom inventory by Derogatis (1975) and the silver lining questionnaire by Sodergren and Hyland (2000). Descriptive statistics, Karl Pearson’s product-moment correlation, and t-test were used to analyze the data. Results: Results indicated a significant negative correlation between psychological distress and adversarial growth among cancer patients (r = -0.62, P<0.01). Significant differences were found in psychological distress (t = 1.48, P<0.01) and in adversarial growth (t = 0.11, P<0.05) among cancer patients as a function of sex. Conclusion: An Inverse Relationship Exists Between psychological distress and adversarial growth. Female cancer patients showed higher psychological distress while males showed higher adversarial growth. These findings thus have significant implications for the adherence of these patients to the treatment that they are undergoing and to the outcomes of the treatment. It is, therefore, reasonable to incorporate screenings and psychosocial care as a part of the routine for cancer patients who are under going treatment.