A Study On The Status And Influencing Factors Of The Fear Of Cancer Recurrence In Elderly Patients With Lung Cancer

Objective: This paper aims to investigate the current situation of elderly lung cancer patients’ fear of cancer recurrence,coping styles,and comprehension of social support;to analyze the correlation between the three factors,explore the influencing factors of elderly lung cancer patients’ fear of cancer recurrence.It provides reference for the later construction of mental health intervention mode of elderly lung cancer patients and the improvement of life quality.Methods: This paper is a non-experimental descriptive study and convenience sampling was used to investigate 260 elderly patients with lung cancer in the oncology department of a tertiary A hospital in Weihai City.The general situation questionnaire,simplified scale for fear of disease progression for cancer patients,comprehension of social support scale,simple coping style questionnaire were used to quantify assessment.SPSS26.0 software was used to perform statistical analysis on the data,and statistical methods such as t-test,ANOVA one-way analysis of variance,Pearson correlation analysis,multiple linear regression analysis,etc.were used in this paper.Results:(1)Basic demographic data of elderly lung cancer patients: This paper investigated a total of 260 elderly lung cancer patients,among which 184(70.8%)were men;155(59.6%)were 65 years and older people;199(76.5%)were with spouses;in terms of education level,most of them got primary education,the number of which was 157(60.4%);among occupations,most were workers,with a number of146(56.2%).From an economic point of view,the per capita income of a family was2000-3000 Yuan/month,including 78 persons(30%);173 persons(66.5%)retired from work;147 persons(56.5%)had one children or less;the main caregiver was children,including 161 people(61.9%);146 people(56.2%)were covered by employee medical insurance in terms of medical payment methods.(2)The total score of the fear of cancer recurrence of elderly patients with lung cancer was(26.36±6.15),which was at a moderate level.The fear of cancer recurrence had significant differences in terms of gender,having spouse or not,education level,family per capita income,occupation,work status,children’s situation,main caregivers,diagnosis time,medical payment methods,pathological types,disease stages,and treatment methods,which were statistically significant(P<0.05).(3)The total score of coping style of elderly patients with lung cancer was(32.31±4.24)points,which was at a moderate level.There were significant differences in coping styles in education level,family per capita income,occupation,work status,children’s situation,main caregivers,diagnosis time,pathological type,disease stage,and treatment methods,which were statistically significant(P<0.05).(4)The total score of comprehension of social support for elderly patients with lung cancer was(72.98±5.36),which was at a relatively high level.There were significant differences in comprehension of social support in with or without spouse,family per capita income,occupation,work status,children’s situation,main caregivers,diagnosis time,pathological type,disease stage,and treatment methods,which were statistically significant(P<0.05).(5)Correlation analysis showed that the fear of cancer recurrence was negatively correlated with coping style(r=-0.449,P<0.01);the fear of cancer recurrence was negatively correlated with comprehension of social support(r=-0.682,P<0.01);there was a positive correlation between coping style and comprehension of social support(r=0.629,P<0.01).(6)In this study,comprehension of social support,coping styles,education level,main caregivers(children),diagnosis time,disease stage,pathological type(small cell carcinoma),treatment method(chemotherapy + radiotherapy)could all explain 63.3%variation of dependent variable-the score of fear of cancer recurrence.Conclusion:(1)The fear of cancer recurrence in elderly patients with lung cancer is at a moderate level,and the coping style is at a moderate level;the ability of comprehension of social support is at a high level.(2)In general information,the patient’s gender,with or without a spouse,education level,family per capita income,occupation,work status,children’s situation,main caregiver,diagnosis time,medical payment method,pathological type,disease stage,treatment method have an impact on fear of cancer recurrence;education level,family per capita income,occupation,work status,children’s situation,main caregivers,diagnosis time,pathological type,disease stage,and treatment methods have an impact on coping style;with or without a spouse,family per capita income,work status,children’s conditions,main caregivers,diagnosis time,pathological type,disease stage,and treatment methods have an impact on the comprehension of social support.(3)The fear of cancer recurrence in elderly patients with lung cancer is negatively correlated with coping style and comprehension of social support and coping style is positively correlated with comprehension of social support.In other words,the higher the patient’s coping style and comprehension of social support,the less obvious the fear of cancer recurrence.(4)Comprehension of social support,coping style,education level,main caregivers(children),diagnosis time,disease stage,pathological type(small cell carcinoma),and treatment methods(chemotherapy + radiotherapy)are the influencing factors of fear of cancer recurrence.