Family functioning and psychosocial symptoms among Latinx patients coping with advanced cancer.

OBJECTIVES

This brief report aims to describe and determine the association of family functioning (e.g., cohesion and expressiveness) with psychosocial needs among Spanish Latinx patients coping with advanced cancers.

METHODS

Descriptive and correlation analyses were performed on data from 103 patients coping with advanced cancer (Stages III and IV). The measures used were the Family Relationships Index, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy: General.

RESULTS

Results indicated that most of the participants had low family function (65%). Participants with higher family functioning (35%) had high levels of quality of life [(103) .318,  < .002]. A higher level of quality of life was also strongly associated with lower levels of anxiety [(95) -.653,  < .000], lower levels of depression [(95) -.733,  < .000], and lower levels of hopelessness [(95) -.585,  = .000]. A total of 22.3% of Latinx advanced cancer patients reported poor cohesiveness; those with low cohesiveness also had higher levels of depression [(103) -.28,  = .004] and anxiety [(103) -.27,  = .005]. Correlations between expressiveness and hopelessness were significant; namely, those with higher expressiveness had lower hopelessness [(103) -.274,  = .005].

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS

Findings present a high correlation between family functioning and psychosocial symptoms.