Health Maintenance Activities and Lay Decision-Making Support

Abstract

Health maintenance activities and involvement of lay sources of decision-making support can affect cancer patients' well-being and decisions about care during active treatment and long-term survivorship. Because most cancer patients are older than 60 years, examining these variables in older cancer survivors is important. In this study, 316 older long-term cancer survivors were asked about health maintenance activities and involvement of lay sources of decision-making support during the diagnosis and treatment of cancer (then) and long-term survivorship (now). Because of the wide age range in older cancer survivors, two age groups were compared: 190 young-old survivors aged 60 to 74 years (M= 67 years, SD= 3.8 years) and 126 old-old survivors aged 75 years or older (M= 80 years, SD= 4.8 years). A larger percentage of young-old than old-old survivors reported using health maintenance activities and lay sources of decision-making support, both then and now. Age-group differences were most apparent in the use of diet/vitamins, meditation, and information about cancer and in involvement of other cancer patients in decision making about care. Also, compared to the old-old age group, young-old survivors used more types of health maintenance activities and lay sources of decision-making support then and now. Health maintenance activities were correlated with lay sources of decision-making support only in the young-old age group. Social workers should be attentive to potential aging and cohort-related differences in assessing older adults' preferences and barriers to use of health maintenance activities and lay sources of decision-making support during active treatment and long-term survivorship.

Key Words:

• Aging
• long-term cancer survivors
• health maintenance
• decision making

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Julia Hannum Rose

Dr. Rose is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Bioethics and Co-Director, Program for Research and Education on Aging, Center for Health Care Research and Policy, Case Western Reserve University, and Associate Director, Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center, Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Administration, Cleveland, OH.