Methods:A cross-sectional study with a predictive correlational design was conducted.A convenient sample of 77 oral cancer patients post reconstruction surgeries was recruited from otolaryngology, and oral and maxillofacial surgery outpatient clinics of three general hospitals in Taiwan. Data were collected with the study questionnaires, including the Facial Disfigurement Scale, the Social Support Scale, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, t-test, One-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and hierarchical regression analysis.
Results: The mean score on the Psychosocial Adjustment to illness Scale was 413.01 (SD = 32.32), indicating that these participants were struggling in adjusting to their illness. 71.4 % of the participants were maladjusted. Employment status, financial status, location of tumor, perceived facial disfigurement, depression, family social support, and provider social support explained 68% of the variance in psychosocial adjustment (F(4,95)=16.4, p < 0.001). 32.5 % of the participants were clinically depressed.
Conclusions: The level of psychosocial adjustment in oral cancer patients is suboptimal. Overall, the patients who had no job, with a lower income, perceived severer facial disfigurement, severely depressed, and with weak family social support reported poorer psychosocial adjustment to their illness.
Implications for Practice: The findings of this study are relevant to the understanding of preconditions that enable oral cancer patients to successfully adjust to the disease and its diverse consequences. Patients who have no job, lower income, perceived severer facial disfigurement, and with less family social support have a greater risk for psychosocial maladjustment. Medical professionals may use these variables to identify higher risk groups for early intensive intervention.