Cancer patients and those supporting them have unique illness perception profiles and support needs — ASN Events
  1. Schedule
  2. COSA Posters: Education and Supportive Care
  3. Cancer patients and those supporting them have unique illness perception profiles and support needs

Cancer patients and those supporting them have unique illness perception profiles and support needs (#831)

Rosie Dobson 1 , Claire O'Donovan 1 , Alexandra Leggat 1 , Olivia Anstis 1 , Lisa Reynolds 2
  1. Cancer Society Auckland Division, Auckland, New Zealand
  2. Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Introduction: It is considered that a person’s perceptions of cancer including their illness and emotional representations play an important role in determining their quality of life, level of disability, and treatment adherence.

Aims: To assess the illness perceptions of cancer patients and individuals supporting someone with cancer (supporters); specifically their cognitive representations of the cancer including the dimensions of cause, consequences, timeline, control, identity and their emotional representations.

Methods: The sample includes a total of 159 individuals (18-86 years of age) presenting at the Cancer Society Counselling and Psychology Service for initial assessments over a 20 week period (March to August, 2012). Participants completed the Brief Illness Perceptions Questionnaire (Brief-IPQ) as well as other measures prior to their assessment with the psychologist. The mean illness perception scores from the Brief IPQ are presented and differences between patients (n=106) and supporters (n = 53) are assessed using non-nonparametric (Mann-Whitney’s U) tests as the dependent variables were not normally distributed.

Results: The results indicate that, as expected, patients and their support people presenting for psychological support perceive the cancer to have high consequence on their lives. However, compared to supporters, patients were found to have significantly higher perceptions of treatment control (U=1455.5, z=-3.88, p<0.001) and personal control (U=1501.0, z=-2.94, p<0.01). Conversely, supporters were found to have significantly higher levels of concern for the cancer (U=1913.5, z=-2.65, p<0.01) than patients.

Conclusions: Whilst the results show overall similarities in illness perceptions between patients and those supporting them, the fact that supporters perceive less control yet higher concern suggests that supporters have particular needs and would benefit from tailored interventions distinct from support aimed at cancer patients. This study has highlighted the necessity for supportive care services to address the unique cancer representations of both patients and those supporting them.