Appearance concerns and psychosocial adjustment following head and neck cancer: a cross-sectional study and nine-month follow-up

Clarke, Sally-Ann, Newell, Robert, Thompson, Andrew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6788-7222, Harcourt, Diana and Lindenmeyer, Antje 2013. Appearance concerns and psychosocial adjustment following head and neck cancer: a cross-sectional study and nine-month follow-up. Psychology, Health and Medicine 19 (5) , pp. 505-518. 10.1080/13548506.2013.855319

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Psychosocial difficulties have been reported in head and neck cancer (HNC) patients, yet only few studies have assessed the impact of altered appearance following HNC treatment using theoretically selected measures of appearance-related distress. This study investigated appearance-related adjustment following HNC, and demographic and socio-cognitive predictors of adjustment. HNC patients (n = 49) completed baseline questionnaires and a nine-month postal follow-up (n = 20). Participants showed considerable variation in appearance-related adjustment, with females reporting higher levels of appearance-related distress (derriford appearance scale [DAS-24]) than females in the general population and male HNC survivors. Depression scores on the hospital anxiety and depression scale were higher than UK norms whilst anxiety was similar to UK norms. There were no significant differences between baseline and follow-up data. Fear of negative evaluation (a central feature of social anxiety) was a significant predictor of appearance-related adjustment at baseline, whilst dispositional optimism was a significant predictor of appearance-related adjustment at baseline and follow-up. Qualitative responses showed themes of appearance and disability, and coping strategies. Findings suggest that appearance-related adjustment post-HNC varies considerably and psychosocial services working with HNC patients should consider this broad pattern of response. Future research to examine the role of socio-cognitive predictors of appearance-related adjustment could progress development of effective psychological interventions.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Psychology
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
ISSN:	1354-8506
Date of Acceptance:	8 October 2013
Last Modified:	09 Nov 2022 10:48
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/140680

Citation Data

Cited 28 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item