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Variables influencing psychosocial adjustment in lung cancer: a preliminary study
1University of Delaware College of Nursing, Newark.
Purpose/Objectives:
To explore the relationships of daily hassles, demands of illness, and social support to the psychosocial adjustment of people with newly diagnosed, primary lung cancer.
Design:
Descriptive correlational.
Setting:
A regional oncology center located in a large teaching hospital.
Sample:
56 patients (62% male, 84% white, mean of 60 years old).
Methods:
After being contacted by phone and assigned a functional status score, subjects completed and mailed four study tools: Hassles Scale, Demands of Illness Inventory, Personal Resource Questionnaire, and Patient Adjustment to Illness Scale-Self Report.
Main Research Variables:
Daily hassles, demands of illness, social support, and psychosocial adjustment.
Findings:
Demands of illness were predictive of psychosocial adjustment in the expected direction (i.e., higher scores were associated with decreased adjustment). Race also was a predictor. In general, participants reported relatively high social support, low hassles, moderately low demands of illness, and positive adjustment.
Conclusions:
Demands of illness were predictive of psychosocial adjustment in patients newly diagnosed with advanced lung cancer.
Implications For Nursing Practice:
Demands of illness should be monitored at the time of diagnosis and periodically throughout the course of the disease. Interventions directed at specific types of demands can facilitate patient adjustment.