Psychosocial Impact of Cancer: More Good Than Bad

Abstract The purpose of this study is to understand psychosocial impacts on cancer survivors using the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information Systemâ (PROMISâ) Psychosocial Illness Impact banks. Cancer survivors (n=509; age: 59.5±1.4; 51.5% men) completed the PROMIS positive and negative illness impact items consisting of four sub-domains: Self-Concept (SC), Social Impact (SI), Stress Response (SR), and Spirituality (Sp). Illness impact was defined as changed scores from items measuring “current” experiences to recalled experiences prior to cancer diagnosis. Descriptive statistics, effect sizes (ES), and coefficient of variation (CV) were calculated at item and sub-domain levels. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to identify potentially influential factors on the impacts. Our study found survivors reported stronger positive than negative impacts (overall ES mean: 0.30 vs.0.23) in general; and more moderate (ES≧0.30) positive than negative impacts at the item level, 54.3% (25 of 46) and 40% (16 of 40) for positive and negative items, respectively. Participants reported more positive impacts on SI and Sp but more negative impacts on SR. The CV results showed more individual differences appeared on positive SC items. Younger survivors reported stronger positive and negative impacts. Women reported higher positive impacts. Survivors with higher education levels tended to have higher positive SI impacts, while those with a lower family income reported higher negative SI and negative SR impacts. We conclude positive and negative psychosocial impacts coexisted—the strength of impacts varied across sub-domains. Age, gender, education, and family income influenced the psychosocial impacts reported by survivors. These findings provide a foundation to develop interventions to strengthen positive and minimize negative impacts and improve cancer survivors' overall well-being.