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The Quality Of Life And Psychosocial

Decent Essays

ur purpose in conducting this study was to collect information about the quality of life and psychosocial adjustment of young patients after the treatment of bone cancer. We conceptualized psychosocial quality of life as consisting of both subjective perceptions and objective conditions, and we designed the study with the use of preexisting reference groups. The selected measures—psychological tests, questionnaires, and interviews—were intended to cover the most impor- tant characteristics of these patients as well as focus on their particular problems.
We assessed a series of variables indicating psy- chosocial adjustment and reduced the data with the use of factor analyses to four principle dimensions: emotional well-being, social well-being, love life, and subjective capabilities. Approximately 80% of patients appeared psychosocially well adjusted. The authors of a comparable study of bone cancer patients reported a similar finding.
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The applied measure, namely, the
“global adjustment to illness” scale, identified psycho- social maladjustment in only 12% of patients, whereas
88% had at the very most minor psychosocial prob- lems. On the other hand, 59% of the childhood cancer survivors examined by Koocher and O’Malley exhib- ited symptoms of depression, anxiety, self-esteem problems, or fluctuations in mood.
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However, it is debatable whether these results are still

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