Introduction
Materials and methods
Procedure
Instruments
Analysis
Results
Participants
Patient | Spouse | Children | |
---|---|---|---|
Mean age in years (SD) | 44.7 (4.9) | 45.8 (6.4) | 14.5 (4.2) |
Range | 32.8–57.8 | 31.2–65.7 | 4–23 |
Gender, N (%)—female | 129 (78) | 37 (22) | 167 (55) |
Gender, N (%)—male | 37 (22) | 129 (78) | 137 (45) |
Mean length of relationship in years (SD), range 4–41 | 21.3 (6.6) | ||
Mean education level (SD), range 1–7 | 3.8 (1.6) | 3.9 (1.8) | |
Mean number of children per couple, range = 1–6 | 2.3 | ||
Primary caregiver in family, N (%) | |||
Mother | 105 (63) | ||
Father | 5 (3) | ||
Both parents | 54 (33) | ||
Other | 2 (1) | ||
Mean time since diagnosis in years (SD) | 2.76 (1.2) | ||
Treatment intensity—nonintense, N (%) | 23 (14) | ||
Treatment intensity—intense, N (%) | 143 (86) | ||
Recurrence of cancer N (%) | 36 (22) |
Patients’ and spouses’ QoL in comparison with the norm
Gender | Patient | Partner | Health status and gender | Norm | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mean | SD |
t (v. norm) | Effect size | Mean | SD |
t (v. norm) | Effect size | ANOVA F
| Mean | SD | ||
Physical functioning | female | 76.1 | 22.2 | −2.12 | 0.20 | 91.9 | 14.9 |
4.29
| 0.75 |
12.99
| 80.7 | 23.6 |
male | 77.3 | 22.0 | −1.96 | 0.33 | 89.1 | 16.9 | 2.44 | 0.27 | 84.5 | 22.3 | ||
Social functioning | female | 78.5 | 24.4 |
−3.16
| 0.31 | 74.7 | 15.9 |
−4.17
| 0.71 | 4.28 | 86.1 | 20.9 |
male | 72.6 | 28.4 | −3.31 | 0.56 | 85.6 | 21.7 | 1.29 | 0.13 | 88.4 | 19.6 | ||
Role limitations—physical | female | 64.9 | 41.2 |
−3.44
| 0.33 | 84.2 | 29.1 | 1.19 | 0.20 |
7.20
| 78.3 | 36.5 |
male | 57.4 | 45.6 | −3.13 | 0.53 | 81.6 | 35.0 | 0.03 | 0.00 | 81.5 | 33.6 | ||
Role limitations—emotional | female | 79.3 | 35.6 | 0.98 | 0.09 | 81.9 | 33.9 | −0.09 | 0.02 | 1.45 | 82.5 | 33.5 |
male | 83.8 | 32.9 | −0.62 | 0.11 | 87.8 | 28.9 | 0.16 | 0.02 | 87.3 | 29.3 | ||
Mental health | female | 72.5 | 16.8 | −1.82 | 0.18 | 74.6 | 14.8 | −0.36 | 0.06 | 2.96 | 75.5 | 18.9 |
male | 78.5 | 14.5 | −0.37 | 0.06 | 77.9 | 16.0 | −0.89 | 0.09 | 79.4 | 17.3 | ||
Vitality | female | 58.8 | 21.8 |
−3.63
| 0.34 | 63.8 | 17.6 | −0.84 | 0.14 |
6.54
| 66.3 | 19.6 |
male | 56.9 | 21.4 |
−3.07
| 0.59 | 69.1 | 18.7 | −0.23 | 0.02 | 69.5 | 20.5 | ||
Pain | female | 81.6 | 21.5 | −0.78 | 0.07 | 85.3 | 18.3 | −1.69 | 0.29 | 2.34 | 80.0 | 25.4 |
male | 80.4 | 24.6 | 0.66 | 0.11 | 87.7 | 19.2 | 2.14 | 0.23 | 83.2 | 23.8 | ||
General health | female | 66.3 | 21.9 | −2.25 | 0.24 | 74.8 | 15.3 | −1.27 | 0.22 |
8.71
| 71.5 | 21.8 |
male | 58.5 | 25.9 | −2.92 | 0.49 | 75.3 | 18.7 | −1.92 | 0.21 | 71.4 | 23.3 | ||
Physical summary | female | 47.2 | 9.8 | – | – | 49.7 | 10.2 | – | – |
11.38
| Not available | |
male | 44.9 | 11.4 | – | – | 50.3 | 9.8 | – | Not available | ||||
Psychosocial summary | female | 49.7 | 10.2 | – | – | 53.6 | 8.6 | – | – | 2.31 | Not available | |
male | 44.9 | 11.4 | – | – | 52.2 | 8.5 | – | – | Not available |
Effects of health status and gender, time since diagnosis, recurrence, treatment intensity, and type of cancer on QoL
Gynecological tumors | Breast cancer | Urological tumor | Soft tissue/bone | Hematological | Dermatological | ANOVA | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
N = 16 | N = 86 |
N = 10 |
N = 10 |
N = 16 |
N = 15 |
F
| |||||||
M
| SD |
M
| SD |
M
| SD |
M
| SD |
M
| SD |
M
| SD | ||
Physical functioning | 78.1 | 17.1 | 78.5 | 20.4 | 81.0 | 14.7 | 59.5 | 15.7 | 57.8 | 32.1 | 88.3 | 15.8 |
5.21
|
Social functioning | 77.3 | 17.2 | 79.2 | 23.3 | 72.5 | 22.7 | 70.0 | 25.8 | 54.7 | 35.9 | 96.7 | 9.9 |
5.34
|
Role limitations—physical | 64.0 | 43.8 | 68.3 | 39.9 | 62.5 | 11.5 | 32.5 | 33.4 | 31.2 | 43.3 | 86.7 | 28.1 |
4.61
|
Role limitations—emotional | 91.7 | 25.8 | 79.5 | 34.7 | 96.7 | 10.5 | 76.7 | 41.7 | 60.4 | 42.5 | 100.0 | 00.0 | 3.16 |
Mental health | 73.0 | 15.0 | 73.6 | 16.5 | 77.6 | 16.4 | 69.5 | 25.9 | 74.5 | 17.7 | 76.0 | 13.8 | 0.29 |
Vitality | 60.6 | 17.6 | 58.9 | 20.7 | 58.5 | 24.3 | 52.0 | 16.9 | 43.4 | 28.7 | 77.3 | 18.8 |
4.18
|
Pain | 86.9 | 17.6 | 81.7 | 21.9 | 75.9 | 19.1 | 60.6 | 20.9 | 73.6 | 29.2 | 92.8 | 13.9 | 3.44 |
Gen. health perception | 72.8 | 16.0 | 64.9 | 23.1 | 61.0 | 21.6 | 54.5 | 17.9 | 47.2 | 28.2 | 85.7 | 9.8 |
5.79
|
Physical summary | 78.1 | 17.11 | 78.5 | 20.4 | 81.0 | 14.7 | 59.5 | 15.7 | 57.8 | 32.1 | 88.3 | 15.8 |
6.48
|
Psychosocial summary | 77.3 | 17.2 | 79.2 | 23.3 | 72.5 | 22.7 | 70.0 | 25.8 | 54.7 | 35.9 | 96.7 | 9.9 | 2.95 |
Functionality of patient in relation to functionality of spouse
Relationship between patient and spouse’s functioning and emotional and behavioral functioning of the children
Patient (N = 162) | Spouse (N = 150) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Physical functioning | Psychosocial functioning | Physical functioning | Psychosocial functioning | |
Elementary school-aged children (CBCL) | ||||
Total | −0.05 | −0.33** | −0.19 | −0.11 |
Internalization | −0.03 | −0.36** | −0.19 | −0.17 |
Externalization | −0.03 | −0.26** | −0.16 | −0.05 |
Adolescents (CBCL) | ||||
Total | −0.18** | −0.24** | −0.11 | −0.22** |
Internalization | −0.19** | −0.23** | −0.15 | −0.27** |
Externalization | −0.10 | −0.21** | −0.09 | −0.09 |
Adolescents (YSR) | ||||
Total | −0.32** | −0.29** | −0.11 | −0.15 |
Internalization | −0.31** | −0.32** | −0.11 | −0.19* |
Externalization | −0.20* | −0.13 | −0.09 | −0.02 |