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Learning Objective 1: describe psychosocial adjustment during the post-radiation treatment transition.
Learning Objective 2: identify predictors of psychosocial adjustment in patients with cancer who are within one month of having completed radiation therapy.
The purpose of this study is to describe the patient’s experience post-radiation and to examine predictors of psychosocial adjustment during the immediate post-radiation treatment transition in patients with breast, lung, and prostate cancer who have completed their primary treatment for their cancer. Consistent with Lazarus and Folkman’s stress, appraisal and coping theory, it is posited that cognitive appraisal of health during the transition is pivotal in determining psychosocial adjustment.
This study, which will be completed in June 2009, is using a predictive correlational design to test the relationship between stress appraisal and the outcome variable, psychosocial adjustment. To date, 78 patients have enrolled. Two weeks prior to the completion of treatment, subjects complete surveys to assess their stress appraisal, uncertainty, symptom distress, social support, and efficacy for coping. Subjects complete the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale approximately one-month after radiation treatment is complete. The analyses will consist of descriptive statistics and a series of hierarchical multiple regressions.
This research will contribute to our understanding of cognitive appraisal and its importance during this transition to post-treatment survivorship and will provide information for the development of assessment and intervention tools for the healthcare team.