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Cited by 58Cancer survivorship and careHead and Neck Cancer StudiesChildhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of Life

Distress, quality of life, neuroticism and psychological coping are related in head and neck cancer patients during follow-up

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Aarstad, Anne K. H., Beisland, Elisabeth, Osthus, Arild André, Aarstad, Hans J.·2011·Acta Oncologica
DOI 10.3109/0284186x.2010.504227
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Abstract

UNLABELLED: The aim of the present study was to study the relation between distress, quality of life (QoL), personality and choice of coping in successfully treated head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients, and to study whether distress could be regarded as a QoL variable. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We determined present distress by the general health questionnaire (GHQ), QoL by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of life Questionnaire (EORTC-QLQ) C30/H&N35, personality by the Eysenck Personality Inventory and coping by the COPE questionnaire. All patients younger than 80 years who had been diagnosed with HNSCC in Western Norway in the period from 1992 to October 2001, and who had survived at least 12 months without evidence of disease were interviewed. In addition, treatment level, TNM stage, alcohol consumption level as well as smoking level were determined. One hundred and thirty-nine patients (96.5% response rate) were included. RESULTS: Distress and QoL indexes were scored with a common variance (CV) between 20% and 35%. The measured variables account for 40-48% of the variance of the QoL/GHQ scores. Between 3% and 10% of the GHQ/general QoL scores and 10% of the variance of the H&N35 QoL scores were predicted by the TNM stage. The measured psychological factors accounted for 20% of the H&N35 QoL scores and 40% of the measured variance of the general QoL and GHQ responses. High neuroticism (CV≈20-35%), present avoidance coping (CV≈10-30%) and coping by suppression of competing activity (CV≈10-20%) were associated with low QoL and high distress. CONCLUSION: GHQ and QoL scores are scored similar, and are to some extent predicted by treatment related factors, but between 2.5 and 10 times more closely associated with psychological factors. Distress may possibly also be regarded as a QoL variable.

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  • Higher levels of neuroticism are associated with insecure attachment style, lower resilience, lower quality of life, and negative emotion-focused coping styles.

    “Other significant associations have been found between higher levels of neuroticism and the individual insecure attachment style, lower levels of resilience, lower quality of life, and negative emotion-focused coping styles [25,26,27,28].”

    From Exploring the Relationship between Neuroticism and Perinatal Depressive Symptoms: Findings from a 2-Year, Multicenter Study in Italy (2024) · cites this paper as [27]

    The Abstract reports that high neuroticism was associated with low quality of life in head and neck cancer patients, and the “Correlations between neuroticism, the COPE and sense of humor responses” section reports associations with several coping measures (page numbers not provided). The paper does not address insecure attachment or resilience. Its COPE Inventory section classifies behavioral disengagement as avoidance coping and suppression as problem-focused coping, so it does not establish an association with negative emotion-focused coping styles as a group. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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1 of the 38 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 9

  1. term head and neck cancer survivors, a comparison with general population norms. Br J Cancer 2000;84:149 -56.
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  4. Pervin LA, John OP, Cervone D. Personality: Theory and [14] research. 9th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons; 2005.
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  6. strategies. A theoretically based approach. J Pers Soc Psychol 1989;56:267 -83.
  7. Scand J Psychol 1974;15:328 -31.
  8. ing to cope, alcohol consumption and smoking in success- fully treated HNSCC patients. Acta Otolaryngol 2007;127: 1091 -8.
  9. multidisciplinary team: The psychologist. Why we need them. Curr Opin Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2008;16:108 -12.

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Authors
Aarstad, A. K. H., Beisland, E., Osthus, A. A., & Aarstad, H. J.
Affiliations
  • Haukeland University Hospital (NO)
  • Høgskolen i Bergen (NO)
Corresponding author
Aarstad, Anne K. H.
ORCID
Venue
Acta Oncologica
Publisher
MJS Publishing, Medical Journals Sweden AB
Published
2010-09-15
Volume
50
Issue
3
Pages
390-398
ISSN
  • 0284-186X (ISSN-L)
  • 1651-226X
DOI
10.3109/0284186x.2010.504227
OpenAlex
W2068511425
Cited by
58
References
38
Citations by year
2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 7
FWCI
2.53
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Acta Oncologica (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Otorhinolaryngology › Head and Neck Cancer Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Childhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of Life
Keywords
head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, psychological distress, quality of life, neuroticism, coping strategies, avoidance coping, personality, TNM stage, cancer survivors, General Health Questionnaire, EORTC QLQ-H&N35, COPE
MeSH terms
Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck, Adaptation, Psychological, Adult, Aged, Anxiety Disorders, Carcinoma, Carcinoma, Squamous Cell, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Head and Neck Neoplasms, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Models, Biological, Quality of Life, Research Design, Stress, Psychological, Cohort Studies, Neoplasms, Squamous Cell

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