![Sample our Health and Social Care journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5938/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Health-Social-Care.jpg"})
Abstract
Cancer patients have been clinically observed to feel and behave in a socially desirable way. They also are reported to show elevated "lie scores" in psychometric tests. In a comparative study, 81 patients undergoing chemotherapy for advanced cancer participated: 41 had colorectal cancer (20 with colostomy) and 40 had bladder cancer (21 with urinary diversion). Among other psychometric tests, the Crowne Marlowe Scale (CMS) was used to assess social desirability. A two-sample t-test showed no statistically significant difference in mean CMS scores between the two groups, but both mean scores were substantially higher than those found in samples of the general population. No statistically significant relationship was observed between age, sex, presence or absence of a stoma, time since diagnosis or time since metastatic disease, and CMS scores. Socially desirable behavior probably increases with age, but it also has been found to be elevated in younger individuals who are chronically ill. Since the ages of patients in the present study clustered around the median of 60.6 for colorectal cancer and 62.5 for bladder cancer, it is probable that the high social desirability observed in our sample was due in part to advanced age but also in part to having cancer. In conclusion, social desirability must be considered as a possible bias in the assessment of cancer patients' quality of life.