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Fear of cancer recurrence in haematological cancer patients: exploring socio-demographic, psychological, existential and disease-related factors

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore the relation between the dimension of fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) in haematological cancer patients relapse-free for at least 2 years and socio-demographic, related to the disease, psychological and existential factors.

Methods

A sample of 75 haematological cancer patients agreed to participate in the study through a self-reported online questionnaire (51.9% males). A total of 70.1% had a low recurrence risk. The questionnaire included socio-demographic (gender, age, civil status, level of education and number of children), related to the disease (diagnosis, therapeutic line and years since diagnosis), psychological (anxiety and depression), existential (purpose in life; PIL) factors and Fear of Cancer Recurrence Concerns Inventory (FCRI). Simple and multiple linear regressions were conducted for the analyses, and we performed some preliminary analysis on the reliability of the FCRI.

Findings

A total of 53.3% of participants showed clinical levels of FCR on the severity dimension, which was higher than found in previous research in other cancer patients. The coping strategies, triggers, severity and psychological distress dimensions showed higher mean values. Women, patients with indolent non-Hodgkin lymphomas, years since diagnosis, anxiety and purpose in life are significantly related to one or more dimensions of FCRI.

Implications

It is important that the clinicians have at their disposal multiple possibilities to help patients cope with haematological cancer. If future research will confirm the results of this study, the negative correlation between FCR and PIL can suggest indications for planning interventions based on a salutogenic approach.

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Funding

The present study was funded by the Italian Association against leukaemia-lymphomas (Associazione Italiana contro le Leucemie-Linfomi e Mieloma; AIL).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Psychology Unit, Fondazione IRCSS “Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori”, Via Giacomo Venezian 1, 20133, Milan, Italy

    C. Borreani, S. Alfieri & E. Bianchi

  2. Haematological Unit, Fondazione IRCSS “Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori”, Milan, Italy

    L. Farina & P. Corradini

Authors
  1. C. Borreani
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  2. S. Alfieri
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  3. L. Farina
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  4. E. Bianchi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. Alfieri.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human studies and informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all participants for inclusion in the study.

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No animal studies were carried out by the authors for this article.

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Borreani, C., Alfieri, S., Farina, L. et al. Fear of cancer recurrence in haematological cancer patients: exploring socio-demographic, psychological, existential and disease-related factors. Support Care Cancer 28, 5973–5982 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05434-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05434-9

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