Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6675-0037

Date Available

7-7-2020

Year of Publication

2020

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College

Arts and Sciences

Department/School/Program

Psychology

Advisor

Dr. Jessica Burris

Abstract

This cross-sectional study identified the nature and strength of the relationship between social and psychological functioning, and explored if these relationships differ as a function of environmental and personal characteristics.

Participants (n=87) consist of breast, prostate, colorectal, lung, and head and neck cancer survivors who were diagnosed within the past five years. Cancer survivors were recruited through a cancer registry and outpatient clinics. Data collection involved questionnaire and medical records review.

In linear regression models for distress, social constraint demonstrated a stronger relationship with general distress (β = .37 vs. β = -.26), anxiety and depression (β = .65 vs. βs = -.21 to .-30) and cancer-specific distress (β =.62 vs. β = -.15) than social support. In the wellbeing models, social support demonstrated a stronger relationship with life satisfaction (β = .56 vs. β = -.15) and global mental health (β = .38 vs. β = -.37) than social constraint; no significant associations were found for cancer-specific wellbeing outcomes. The environmental and personal characteristics significantly moderated the relationship between social and psychological functioning in a few regression models.

Results support the interrelationship between social and psychological functioning in cancer survivors, and sheds light on the complexities of these relationships.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2020.310

Funding Information

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under award number K07 CA181351 (9/1/2014-8/31/2019) and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under award number UL1 TR001998 (8/15/2016 -5/31/2020). This research was also supported by the DREAM Scholars program, which is supported by the College of Nursing, Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS), and Center for Health Equity Transformation (CHET) at the University of Kentucky (8/2018-8/2020).

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