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Hope, emotion regulation, and psychosocial well-being in patients newly diagnosed with cancer

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Abstract

Purpose

Patients newly diagnosed with cancer are often confronted with feelings of uncertainty and life threat. A significant proportion may report impairments in psychosocial well-being. Previous studies examining protective psychological factors such as hope and emotion regulation (ER) have yet to investigate these processes concurrently within a common self-regulation framework and/or focus on newly diagnosed patients. The present study aimed to examine how hope and ER may relate to psychosocial outcomes of patients newly diagnosed with cancer.

Methods

The present study used a cross-sectional design with self-report questionnaires. Participants were newly diagnosed patients (N = 101) recruited from three cancer therapy clinics in a hospital. Patients completed measures of hope, ER (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression), and psychosocial well-being (life satisfaction and negative affectivity).

Results

Findings showed that (1) hope and reappraisal, but not suppression, were associated with well-being and (2) the interaction between hope and reappraisal was associated with well-being; reappraisal was not associated with well-being in high hope patients, while high reappraisal was associated with better well-being in low hope patients.

Conclusion

Individual differences in hope and reappraisal appeared to be associated with psychosocial outcomes in newly diagnosed cancer patients. Hopeful thinking appeared to benefit patients’ psychosocial well-being. In addition, an interaction effect between hope and reappraisal suggested that reappraisal as an ER strategy may be particularly adaptive for patients with low hope.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Professor George Bishop for his inputs on emotion regulation and research assistants for helping with data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological Medicine, National University Hospital, Singapore, Singapore

    Chao Xu Peh, Ee Heok Kua & Rathi Mahendran

  2. Department of Psychological Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Ee Heok Kua & Rathi Mahendran

  3. Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore, Singapore

    Rathi Mahendran

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  1. Chao Xu Peh
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Correspondence to Rathi Mahendran.

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Peh, C.X., Kua, E.H. & Mahendran, R. Hope, emotion regulation, and psychosocial well-being in patients newly diagnosed with cancer. Support Care Cancer 24, 1955–1962 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-015-2989-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-015-2989-x

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