Dissertation
Psychosocial factors in non-adherence to cancer therapy
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2012
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/4149
Abstract
A burgeoning set of studies have examined the psychosocial factors associated with adherence to medical regimens. Yet, treatment breaks from cancer therapy that may hinder treatment progression and exacerbate side-effects have been less empirically studied as a form of non-adherence. This study examined the relationship between psychosocial factors related to adherence and treatment breaks during cancer therapy. In this cross-sectional study, 144 individuals undergoing or who recently underwent treatment for cancer participated in which they completed a questionnaire that assessed psychosocial factors related to adherence, as well as the presence of treatment breaks from cancer therapy. The results showed that symptoms of depression, treatment-related severity and management of side effects, and poor health provider - patient communication presented as all independently significantly related to non-adherence. Further, the results revealed that type of cancer was associated with adherence status. Our model of predictors of adherence status was not statistically significant; however, one predictor (perceived stress) made unique statistical contributions to the model. The implications of these findings and future directions are discussed.
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Details
- Title
- Psychosocial factors in non-adherence to cancer therapy
- Creators
- Jill Marissa Gjerde
- Contributors
- John P Garofalo (Advisor)Elizabeth Soliday (Committee Member)Bruce Wright (Committee Member)Mel Haberman (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Psychology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 67
- Identifiers
- 99900581657301842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation