Department of General Practice, University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands.
Br J Health Psychol. 2012 Nov;17(4):667-81. doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8287.2012.02064.x. Epub 2012 Feb 28.
Life, following curative treatment, can be a struggle for former cancer patients. In this phase of their illness, social comparison information may help to improve a patient's quality of life (QOL). The objective of this study was to determine whether the effects of this information depend on the following two variables: (1) the individual's physical health and (2) the individual's sensitivity to social comparison.
In the current study, the effects on a patient's QOL were tested that occur when they are listening to a psychological oncological expert talking about cancer patients' experiences. Three different recorded interviews with experts were compared (on negative emotions, effective coping, or both), and individual differences were tested as moderators. In addition, the expert source conditions were compared with a condition in which the source was not an expert but a former patient.
In a randomized field experiment, 154 Dutch former cancer patients (M(age) = 55 years; 68% women) were assigned to one of the four conditions (three expert source and one former patient source condition). QOL was assessed after 2 months.
The effects of the expert source conditions on QOL depended on the participants' physical health (good vs. poor) and on the participants' sensitivity to social comparison (whether the recipient reacts with contrast or identification), as indicated by significant three-way interactions (p < .001). Depending on these two variables, one of the three expert source conditions was at least as effective as the former patient source condition.
The results show that desired and undesired effects are found when individual differences relevant to the processing of intervention information are examined.
癌症患者在接受治愈性治疗后，可能会面临生活上的挑战。在疾病的这一阶段，社会比较信息可能有助于提高患者的生活质量（QOL）。本研究的目的是确定这种信息的影响是否取决于以下两个变量：（1）个体的身体健康状况；（2）个体对社会比较的敏感性。
在目前的研究中，当患者聆听心理肿瘤学专家讲述癌症患者的经历时，测试了对患者 QOL 的影响。比较了三种不同的专家访谈记录（关于负面情绪、有效应对或两者兼而有之），并测试了个体差异作为调节因素。此外，还比较了专家来源条件与非专家来源（即前患者）条件。
在一项随机现场实验中，154 名荷兰前癌症患者（M（年龄）= 55 岁；68%为女性）被分配到四个条件之一（三个专家来源条件和一个前患者来源条件）。2 个月后评估 QOL。
专家来源条件对 QOL 的影响取决于参与者的身体健康状况（良好与较差）和参与者对社会比较的敏感性（接受者是反应对比还是认同），这表明存在显著的三向交互作用（p<.001）。根据这两个变量，三个专家来源条件中的一个至少与前患者来源条件一样有效。
研究结果表明，当检查与干预信息处理相关的个体差异时，会发现预期和非预期的效果。
