Cognitive determinants of quality of life after onset of cancer.

To investigate cognitive coping styles and how they might relate to perceived quality of life for individuals seriously ill with cancer 41 mostly elderly, male patients with a wide variety of cancers were administered the Illness Effects Questionnaire, a quality of life measure, the COPE Questionnaire, which samples different coping strategies, and questions regarding beliefs about illness behaviors, expectations about cancer's effects, comparisons of the participants' lives with those of others, feelings since having cancer, and motivation to resist lifestyle disruptions. Six of the belief factors and two of the coping strategies were related to perceived quality of life. If the effects of cancer were less than expected, quality of life was better; with an expectation of a negative effect from the disease, lowered quality of life was perceived. Two coping strategies were related to quality of life, suppression of competing activities and using religious practices. Other relationships were also discussed.