Premium
Associations between quality of life, coping styles, optimism, and anxiety and depression in pretreatment patients with head and neck cancer
Author(s) -
Horney Debbie J.,
Smith Helen E.,
McGurk Mark,
Weinman John,
Herold Jim,
Altman Keith,
Llewellyn Carrie D.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
head and neck
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.012
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1097-0347
pISSN - 1043-3074
DOI - 10.1002/hed.21407
Subject(s) - optimism , anxiety , coping (psychology) , clinical psychology , head and neck cancer , depression (economics) , quality of life (healthcare) , psychology , medicine , psychiatry , cancer , psychotherapist , economics , macroeconomics
Background Head and neck cancer is often diagnosed at a late stage and consequently radical treatment is necessary. The pretreatment phase is a time of high anxiety and depression for patients. This study aimed to investigate whether anxiety and depression are related to quality of life, coping styles, and dispositional optimism. Methods One hundred and three patients were recruited after diagnosis to a questionnaire study. Measures included the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; SF12v2 Health Survey; Brief COPE, and the Revised Life Orientation Test. Results Quality of life, in particular emotional role explained a large proportion of the variance in pretreatment anxiety and depression. In addition, the use of negative coping styles was related to high anxiety levels and low levels of optimism were related to higher levels of depression. Conclusion There are a small but significant proportion of pretreatment patients that may benefit from individualized support. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck, 2011