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Children with cancer with different survival perspectives: defensiveness, control strategies, and psychological adjustment
Author(s) -
Grootenhuis Martha A.,
Last Bob F.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
psycho‐oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.41
H-Index - 137
eISSN - 1099-1611
pISSN - 1057-9249
DOI - 10.1002/pon.529
Subject(s) - anxiety , psychology , depression (economics) , cancer , clinical psychology , cognition , perspective (graphical) , developmental psychology , medicine , psychiatry , artificial intelligence , computer science , economics , macroeconomics
The main objective of the present study was to investigate whether children with cancer with different survival perspectives differ in their psychological adjustment, defensiveness and their use of cognitive control strategies. Furthermore, the study investigated which variables predict emotional adjustment of these children with cancer most adequately. A total of n =84 children ( n =43 children in remission and n =41 children not in remission) participated in the study. They answered questionnaires about control strategies, defensiveness, anxiety and depression. No differences were found in any of the questionnaires between children in remission and relapse. Emotional adjustment of the children was predicted by defensiveness and by positive expectations about the course of the illness. The findings demonstrate the importance of having positive expectations for the emotional adjustment of children with cancer. The strength of the study is the inclusion of a substantial group of children with cancer who have a reduced survival perspective. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.