HOPE, AFFECT, PSYCHOLOGICAL STATUS AND THE CANCER EXPERIENCE.
Contributors: University of Maryland at Baltimore.
Published: 1989
Number of pages: 232
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: This study was designed to examine hope as it occurs among newly diagnosed cancer patients. The literature identifies hope as a prerequisite for coping with the demands and challenges of illnesses such as cancer, and nursing authors speak to the consideration of hope as a concept basic to nursing practice. An adaptation of the stress, appraisal, and coping model of Lazarus and Folkman was used to examine the relationship of hope to the appraisal of cancer and the immediate effects of this appraisal: affect and psychological status. The influence of selected person and situation factors on this appraisal process was determined.

A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data from a nonrandomized sample of 60 adult cancer patients undergoing outpatient treatment for their breast, lung, colon, or rectal cancer. Demographic and illness-related data were obtained via interview. Written, self-report instruments, the State-Trait Hope Inventory (STHI), the Affects Balance Scale, and the Brief Symptom Inventory were used to measure key variables.

Levels of trait and state hope were found to be high. More hopeful subjects had a more positive affect and less psychological distress. One-way ANOVA procedures revealed sex, religion, and marital status to be more significant discriminators of hope levels than illness-related factors. Multiple regression procedures identified 30% of the variance in state hope accounted for by optimism regarding treatment outcome, marital status, and surgery. Trait hope and age accounted for 30% of the variance in affect, while 37% of the variance in psychological status was accounted for by trait hope, age, and optimism regarding treatment outcome. The implications of these findings for theory development and clinical practice are delineated, and recommendations for future research identified.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-09, Section: B, page: 3918.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND AT BALTIMORE, 1989.

School code: 0373.