Living with cancer: perceptions of well-being

The aims of the study were, first, to provide descriptive data on the perception of psychological well-being one year after surgery in a group of patients treated for gastro-intestinal cancer; secondly, to compare aspects of psychological well-being between the group of patients living with other chronic diseases, and thirdly, to determine whether the perceptions of psychological well-being were related to coping capabilities. Sixty-nine patients with gastro-intestinal cancer and 20 patients with ostomies due to Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis participated in the study. The most interesting finding in this study was that the cancer patients with a strong sense of coherence perceived their well-being as better than did the patients with a weaker sense of coherence. Other interesting findings were the differences in psychological well-being between younger (< 67 years) and older (> or = 67 years) cancer patients and between the younger cancer patients and non-cancer patients with ostomies. The young perceived their well-being as poorer than that of the old and the cancer patients rated their sense of psychological well-being as poorer than that of the patients with ostomies. It is concluded that nurses should focus their attention not only on the patients' physical well-being but also on their psychological well-being. Specific consideration should be given to the psychological needs of younger cancer patients.