Self-reported symptom distress in cancer patients: reflections of disease, illness or sickness?

This article examines the relationships between symptom distress in a heterogeneous group of cancer patients and a number of possible explanatory variables, categorized as demographic, medical/clinical, individual/psychosocial and variables related to patients' views of care provided by the health care system. A series of explorative multiple regression analyses were undertaken to this end. The data are derived from a cross-sectional study of cancer patients diagnosed in 1987 at one general hospital in the greater Stockholm area, using semi-structured interviews in conjunction with McCorkle and Young's Symptom Distress Scale, Antonovsky's Sense of Coherence Questionnaire, Cutrona and Russell's Social Provisions Scale and Smilkstein's Family APGAR. Symptom distress is studied as a cumulative index, as well as in terms of the sub-indexes of pain, appetite/nausea, functional aspects, psychological aspects and social aspects. When the four categories of explanatory variables are combined, considerably higher levels of variance are explained for all 6 indexes of the Symptom Distress Scale, than when the regression analyses are performed separately with each distinct category of explanatory variables. This provides a statistical illustration of the multifaceted and complex nature of symptom distress. The data are presented in the context of a conceptual discussion about the meaning of symptoms. Symptom distress, in this study, appears to reflect both personal and cultural experiences, that is 'illness' and 'sickness' processes, rather than primarily medical/clinical variables, or 'disease'. Antonovsky's salutogenic model is suggested as a fruitful framework for further analysis.