The Correlation of Psychological Symptoms, Quality of Life and Resilience in Patients with Recurrent Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer.

Recurrent non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) may be accompanied by cosmetic, functional, and emotional consequences. Aims: To examine associations among psychological symptoms, quality of life, resilience, and religiosity and to compare psychological outcomes between patients treated once and patients with recurrent facial NMSC.

Methods

This cross-sectional study included 160 patients after surgery for facial NMSC (63 treated once and 97 with recurrent disease). Data were collected with a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R), the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale 25 (CD-RISC-25), the World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale (WHOQOL-BREF) and DUREL.

Results

Greater psychological symptom severity was consistently associated with poorer scores across all WHOQOL-BREF domains. The overall multivariate group effect was significant (Pillai's Trace = 0.235, F(6.149) = 7.641, p < 0.001, partial eta squared = 0.235). After Bonferroni correction for six follow-up tests, patients with recurrent NMSC had a higher adjusted GSI and lower adjusted psychological health scores than patients treated once (both p < 0.001). Adjusted differences in physical health, social relationships, environment, and CD-RISC were not statistically significant.

Conclusions

Recurrent NMSC status was associated with greater psychological symptom burden and poorer psychological quality of life. Routine psychological screening may help identify patients who require further assessment or support.