Psychosocial resources and sleep disturbance before chemotherapy for gynecologic cancer

ABSTRACT

Personal psychosocial resources (e.g., positive affect, social support, perceived mastery, meaning in life) are associated with better sleep in noncancer populations, but there have been few studies in cancer patients. The present study examined psychosocial resources and sleep in gynecological cancer patients. Before chemotherapy, 72 participants completed self-report measures of sleep and psychosocial resources; 63 also completed actigraphic monitoring. Subjective sleep was associated with positive affect, social support, perceived mastery, and meaning in life; objective sleep was associated with social support. Future studies should examine whether interventions to enhance psychosocial resources result in improved sleep in this population.

KEYWORDS:

• neoplasms
• sleep
• actigraphy
• social support

Funding

This study was supported by National Cancer Institute grant number R03-CA126775. The authors acknowledge the contributions of the Moffitt Cancer Center Survey Methods Shared Resource.