Illness representations and quality of life in French patients suffering from lung cancer

ABSTRACT

Numerous studies have shown the impact of lung cancer disease on patient quality of life (QoL), but no research has yet examined the impact of illness representations (IR) in the assessment of QoL in lung cancer. Our goal is to explore the role of IR as adeterminant of QoL for lung cancer patients. Data were collected from 162 French patients who completed aself-administered questionnaire including ageneric measure of QoL. It also contains aspecific measure of psychological distress, mental adjustment to cancer, and socio-demographic and medical data. Regression analysis revealed that consequences, treatment control, identity and understanding predicted QoL and the activity dimension of QoL. Perceived consequences and identity seemed to have adeleterious impact on QoL, while treatment control predicted abetter QoL, related to the level of psychological distress and education level. The results suggest the importance of considering IR as adeterminant of QoL. They corroborate earlier findings on the relationship between IR and QoL associated with other pathologies. Psychosocial variables appeared to have more impact on QoL than socio-demographic and clinical variables, which shows the importance of considering IR in order to improve the QoL of patients.

KEYWORDS:

• Lung cancer
• illness representation
• quality of life
• mental adjustment
• anxiety
• depression

Highlights

• Illness representations are determinant of QoL.

• Representations concerning control treatment seem to be a protective factor for QoL.

• Perceived consequences and illness identity seem to be a risk factor for QoL.

• Level of depression and education level should be considered through IR as a predictor and risk factor for QoL.

• Considering IR, giving a sense to illness is important for improving QoL in lung cancer patients.

Acknowledgments

The authors are very grateful to the patients and the healthcare team of the Multidisciplinary Oncology and Therapeutic Innovations department in the University Hospital of North Marseille for their support and participation in this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.