Health-related quality of life and psychological distress in young adult survivors of cancer in adolescence or young adulthood
Master thesis
Permanent lenke
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2427160Utgivelsesdato
2016Metadata
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- Institutt for psykologi [3143]
Sammendrag
Background: This study investigated health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and psychological distress among young adult survivors of cancer in adolescence. Methods: Participants included cancer survivors ( /?=230) recruited though The Cancer Registry of Norway (CRN) and healthy controls (n=223) recruited from a student population at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). All participants completed selfreport questionnaires with the Pediatric Quality of Live Inventory (PedsQL ) 4.0 as a measure of HRQOL and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-10 (HSCL-10) as a measure of distress. Results: Survivors reported HRQOL and distress at the same level as controls, except from poorer self-reported physical functioning. Survivors in general and female survivors specifically were more probable than controls to report symptoms of distress, but survivors did not show higher levels of distress compared to controls. Female survivors reported poorer HRQOL and higher levels of distress than female controls. Survivors reporting distress above cut-off for psychological distress, reported significantly poorer HRQOL than controls scoring above cut-off. Some differences in HRQOL and distress related to types of treatment were found. For cancer survivors, demographic variables and numbers of undergone self-reported treatment modalities predicted HRQOL and distress. Conclusion: Gender, educational level, perceived economic situation and numbers of undergone treatment modalities significantly predicted HRQOL and distress. A developmental perspective helps recognize the special challenges of young adult survivors of cancer in adolescence, and there is a need for long term follow up for this Group.