Latent profiles of resilience and associations with quality of life in head and neck cancer patients undergoing proton and heavy ion therapy.

BACKGROUND

Psychological resilience is the most important psychological protection factor for cancer patients in the face of tumors and treatment. However, few studies have performed meaningful latent profile analyses of resilience to identify unobserved subgroups of head and neck cancer patients.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of resilience in head and neck cancer patients using latent profile analysis (LPA) to determine the sociodemographic and disease characteristics of each profile. In particular, we examined the association of different resilience profiles with the quality of life of head and neck cancer patients.

METHODS

A total of 254 head and neck cancer patients completed a demographic questionnaire, the Resilience Scale Specific to Cancer and the EOTRC QLQ-C3O, used to assess their resilience and quality of life.

RESULTS

LPA identified three distinct profiles based on varying levels of resilience: "low resilience" group ( = 45; 17.72%), "moderate resilience" group ( = 113; 44.49%), and "high resilience" group ( = 96; 37.80%). Gender ( = 6.20; < 0.01), education level ( = 1,812.59; < 0.01), treatment regimen ( = 6.32; < 0.01), tumor stage ( = 3.92; ≤ 0.05), and initial recurrence ( = 5.13; < 0.05) were important predictors. High resilience was significantly related to higher quality of life ( = 15.694; < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Head and neck cancer patients' psychological resilience can be categorized as three resilience profiles; those who are female and have a low education level tend to have lower psychological resilience. Low resilience in patients is linked to poor role function and social function, low quality of life, and more severe pain symptoms, highlighting the need to address resilience in patient care for improved wellbeing.