TY - JOUR
T1 - Psychological distress and coping in nasopharyngeal cancer
T2 - an explorative study in Western Europe
AU - Ghiggia, Ada
AU - Castelli, Lorys
AU - Riva, Giuseppe
AU - Tesio, Valentina
AU - Provenzano, Erica
AU - Ravera, Mattia
AU - Garzaro, Massimiliano
AU - Pecorari, Giancarlo
AU - Franco, Pierfrancesco
AU - Potenza, Ilenia
AU - Rampino, Monica
AU - Torta, Riccardo
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2017/4/21
Y1 - 2017/4/21
N2 - Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is the head and neck cancer with the greatest impact on patients’ quality of life. The aim of this explorative study is to investigate the psychological distress, coping strategies and quality of life of NPC patients in the post-treatment observation period. Twenty-one patients disease-free for at least two years were assessed with a medical and a psycho-oncological evaluation. Clinically relevant depressive symptoms (CRD) were present in 23.8% of patients and 33.3% reported clinically relevant anxiety symptoms (CRA). Patients with CRD and CRA showed a significantly higher score in the use of hopelessness/helplessness and anxious preoccupation coping strategies and a worse quality of life. Even in the post-treatment period, about a quarter of patients showed CRD and CRA. Results showed that patients with high anxiety or depressive symptoms seem to use dysfunctional coping strategies, such as hopelessness and anxious preoccupation, more than patients with lower levels of anxiety and depression. The use of these styles of coping thus seems to be associated to a higher presence of CRA or CRD symptomatology and to a worse quality of life.
AB - Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is the head and neck cancer with the greatest impact on patients’ quality of life. The aim of this explorative study is to investigate the psychological distress, coping strategies and quality of life of NPC patients in the post-treatment observation period. Twenty-one patients disease-free for at least two years were assessed with a medical and a psycho-oncological evaluation. Clinically relevant depressive symptoms (CRD) were present in 23.8% of patients and 33.3% reported clinically relevant anxiety symptoms (CRA). Patients with CRD and CRA showed a significantly higher score in the use of hopelessness/helplessness and anxious preoccupation coping strategies and a worse quality of life. Even in the post-treatment period, about a quarter of patients showed CRD and CRA. Results showed that patients with high anxiety or depressive symptoms seem to use dysfunctional coping strategies, such as hopelessness and anxious preoccupation, more than patients with lower levels of anxiety and depression. The use of these styles of coping thus seems to be associated to a higher presence of CRA or CRD symptomatology and to a worse quality of life.
KW - Psychological distress
KW - coping
KW - nasopharyngeal cancer
KW - psychoncology
KW - quality of life
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84981193824&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13548506.2016.1220600
DO - 10.1080/13548506.2016.1220600
M3 - Article
SN - 1354-8506
VL - 22
SP - 449
EP - 461
JO - Psychology, Health and Medicine
JF - Psychology, Health and Medicine
IS - 4
ER -