Determinants of Life Satisfaction and Quality of Life Among American Indian Women Cancer Survivors: The Role of Psychosocial Resources

ABSTRACT

Purpose

This study assessed the relationship of spirituality, social support, and sense of mastery to life satisfaction and quality of life to identify viable psychosocial coping resources among American Indian (AI) women cancer survivors.

Method

We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 73 AI women cancer survivors residing in South Dakota. A series of multivariate hierarchical regression analyses was conducted.

Results

Findings indicated that lower self-rated physical health was consistently associated with lower levels of life satisfaction and quality of life. Spirituality was found to be the most influential predictor for life satisfaction, while social support and sense of mastery were two significant predictors for quality of life.

Discussion

Our data underscored the importance of spirituality, social support, and sense of mastery to the well-being of AI women cancer survivors and as effective coping strategies to mitigate life stressors. Implications of this evidence for the design of cancer preventions and interventions are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• American Indian women cancer survivors
• life satisfaction
• quality of life
• spirituality
• social support
• sense of mastery

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their gratitude to the Sanford Research Center and its staff for their generous support. Special appreciation goes to the American Indian women cancer survivors who participated in this project.

Disclosure statement

We have no known conflict of interest to disclose. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

 The work was supported by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health (U54MD008164) to Dr. Roh. This work was also supported, in part, by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U54GM128729.