Factors associated with fear of progression in chinese cancer patients: sociodemographic, clinical and psychological variables.

OBJECTIVE

Fear of progression (FoP) is a widespread problem among cancer patients and is considered to be one of the most distressing psychological consequences of cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological variables to FoP in Chinese cancer patients.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional study, six hundred and thirty-six cancer patients were recruited. All participants were asked to complete a personal information sheet, the Chinese version of Fear of Progression Questionnaire-Short Form (FoP-Q-SF), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and General Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire (GAD-7). Descriptive statistics and hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to analyze the data.

RESULTS

Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that childhood severe illness experience (P = .011), stress (P < .001), anxiety (P < .001), depressive symptom (P < .001) and personality (P = .042) were independently predictive of higher FoP. The final regression model explained up to 40.0% (adjusted R square: 38.8%) of the observed variance.

CONCLUSION

There are a number of factors that increase the likelihood of the development of FoP. The findings underline the necessity to provide effective psychological intervention for patients with high FoP in the future.