An Evaluation of the Psychosocial Problems of the Homebound Cancer Patient

Abstract

The relationship between cancer patients' mood disturbance, role conflicts, and self-care problems and four patient-related variables was evaluated in a large sample of homebound patients. The patients ranged from moderately to gravely ill. A hierarchical multiple regression model was developed to assess the impact of the patients' demographic and medical characteristics, number of family caretakers available, and family problems related to the patients' adjustment, as defined by mood disturbance, role conflicts, and self-care problems. The results showed that the family- problem variable accounted for significantly more variance and explained all three patient-outcome variables (mood disturbance, role conflicts, and self-care problems) than did any other predictor variables in the stepwise multiple regression analysis.