- Title
- Young adult cancer survivors' psychosocial well-being: a cross-sectional study assessing quality of life, unmet needs, and health behaviors
- Creator
- Hall, Alix Edna; Boyes, Allison Wendy; Bowman, Jennifer; Walsh, Raoul A.; James, Erica L.; Girgis, Afaf
- Relation
- NHMRC.252418
- Relation
- Supportive Care in Cancer Vol. 20, Issue 6, p. 1333-1341
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00520-011-1221-x
- Publisher
- Springer
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2012
- Description
- Purpose: This study compared the unmet needs, quality of life, and health behaviors (smoking, alcohol, and physical activity) of young adult cancer survivors to their older counterparts and age-related peers. Methods: We conducted a subset analysis of the Cancer Survival Study baseline data collected from participants surveyed at approximately 6–7 months post-diagnosis. All 58 young adults aged 18–40 years at the time of first primary cancer diagnosis and participating in the study were included. Their responses to the self-administered SCNS-SF34, EORTC QLQ-C30, and standard items assessing smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity were compared to a random sample (n=58) of gender and cancer-type matched older adults (64+ years) participating in the same study. Young adult survivors' health behaviors were also compared to previously published data for age-related peers from the Australian general population. Results: Young adult cancer survivors reported significantly lower levels of social functioning; higher levels of financial difficulties, sexuality needs, health systems and information needs; and better physical functioning than their older counterparts. A significantly higher percentage of young cancer survivors were current smokers compared to older survivors (16.1% vs. 3.7%, p=0.03), but is lower than that reported by age-related peers (24.8%). Compared to young cancer survivors (27.3%), significantly fewer older cancer survivors (8.3%, p=0.046) and more age-related peers (53.6%) engaged in sufficient levels of physical activity. Conclusions: The impact of cancer on young adults seems to be specific. Future research should verify the unique concerns of young adult cancer survivors in large and diverse samples.
- Subject
- cancer survivors; health behaviors; psychosocial oncology; quality of life; young adulthood
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1038617
- Identifier
- uon:13565
- Identifier
- ISSN:0941-4355
- Rights
- The final publication is available at www.springerlink.com
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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