Regulatory function of stress in the process of leukemia patients' recovery after bone marrow transplantation

Abstract

The theoretical rationale was the author's Functional Model of Health (FMH), where health is construed as a function of creative coping with stress. Participants in the study were 141 patients with blood cancer (80 men and 61 women) treated with bone marrow transplantation at the Hematology Clinic, Jagiellonian University Collegium Medicum. Besides a standardized interview the following instruments were used: STAI by Spielberger, CISS and CHIP by Endler and Parker, and SOC-29 by Antonovsky. Health status was operationalized using 10-point self-rating scales to assess the patients' perceived health and sense of calmness, while their objective health was rated by a medical expert - hematologist. In the statistical analyses significant correlations were found between stress level and the patients' subjective health (-0.34, p<0.001). The following variables predicted stress intensity: anxious personality (.585), distraction coping strategy (-.202), female sex (.201), and sense of meaningfulness (-.190). Subjective health predictors of leukemia patients are: objective health (β = .413), level of stress (β = -.285), by the patient's sense of meaningfulness (β = .244) and focusing on negative emotions (β = -.193). To promote patients' health moreover, their sense of meaningfulness in life and in being active should be supported and enhanced.