Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, Center for Behavioral Health and Technology, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
University of Virginia NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
Support Care Cancer. 2024 Feb 27;32(3):193. doi: 10.1007/s00520-024-08391-9.
Women cancer survivors, especially those in rural areas, with high levels of depression may be acutely susceptible to pain due to the ways they think, feel, and behave. The current study seeks to elucidate the relationship between symptoms of depression and pain severity in women cancer survivors, by examining the putative mediators involved in this relationship, specifically their self-efficacy for managing their health, how overwhelmed they were from life's responsibilities, and relational burden.
Self-report data were collected from 183 cancer survivors of breast, cervical, ovarian, or endometrial/uterine cancer, who were between 6 months and 3 years post-active therapy.
Women cancer survivors with higher (vs. lower) symptoms of depression had more severe pain. Individual mediation analyses revealed that survivors with higher levels of depression felt more overwhelmed by life's responsibilities and had lower self-efficacy about managing their health, which was associated with greater pain severity. When all mediators were simultaneously entered into the same model, feeling overwhelmed by life's responsibilities significantly mediated the link between survivors' symptoms of depression and their pain severity.
The relationship between symptoms of depression and pain severity in women cancer survivors may be attributed in part to their self-efficacy and feeling overwhelmed by life's responsibilities. Early and frequent assessment of psychosocial factors involved in pain severity for women cancer survivors may be important for managing their pain throughout the phases of cancer survivorship.
患有高水平抑郁症的女性癌症幸存者，尤其是农村地区的患者，由于其思维、感觉和行为方式，可能会对疼痛高度敏感。本研究旨在通过检查这种关系中涉及的假定中介因素，特别是她们管理健康的自我效能感、对生活责任的压力感以及关系负担，来阐明女性癌症幸存者的抑郁症状与疼痛严重程度之间的关系。
本研究从 183 名乳腺癌、宫颈癌、卵巢癌或子宫内膜/子宫癌的癌症幸存者中收集了自我报告数据，这些患者处于积极治疗后 6 个月至 3 年期间。
（与症状较轻的患者相比）抑郁症状较高的女性癌症幸存者疼痛更严重。个体中介分析显示，抑郁程度较高的幸存者对生活的责任感到压力更大，对管理自己健康的自我效能感较低，这与疼痛严重程度更大有关。当所有中介因素同时被纳入同一模型时，对生活责任的压力感显著中介了幸存者抑郁症状与疼痛严重程度之间的关系。
女性癌症幸存者的抑郁症状与疼痛严重程度之间的关系可能部分归因于她们的自我效能感和对生活责任的压力感。对女性癌症幸存者疼痛严重程度相关的心理社会因素进行早期和频繁的评估，可能对她们在癌症生存期间的疼痛管理很重要。
