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Impact of psychological and cancer-related factors on HRQoL for Korean childhood cancer survivors

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Abstract

Purpose

The purposes of this study were (1) to compare health-related quality of life (HRQoL) between Korean childhood cancer survivors and healthy controls and (2) to examine the impact of demographic, diagnosis/treatment, and psychological variables on physical and psychosocial health in survivors.

Methods

The HRQoL (PedsQL), Self-Concept Inventory, and Child Behavior Checklist were administered to childhood cancer survivors, age/gender-matched healthy counterparts, and their parents. Independent-samples t tests and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted.

Results

Compared with healthy controls, childhood cancer survivors reported significantly lower scores across physical and psychosocial HRQoL. For survivors, demographic, diagnosis/treatment, current health status, and psychological variables explained more than 50 % of the variance in both subscales of HRQoL. Especially, self-concept, a psychological variable, explained a significant portion of the variance in physical and psychosocial HRQoL after controlling for cancer-related factors. Several cancer-related factors including time since treatment completion, having a history of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, multiple treatment modalities, and suffering from severe late effects also associated with specific dimension of HRQoL.

Conclusions

Childhood cancer survivors do experience lower level of QoL and psychological factors, especially self-concept, should be considered when supporting the well-being of childhood cancer survivors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Yonsei University, Seoul, 120-749, Korea

    Myung Ah Rhee & Kyong Mee Chung

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA

    Yuri Lee

  3. Roswell Park Cancer Institute, New York, NY, USA

    Hana K. Choi

  4. Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Yonsei Cancer Center, Yonsei University Health System, Seoul, Korea

    Jung Woo Han, Hyo Sun Kim & Chuhl Joo Lyu

  5. Nursing Department, Yonsei Cancer Center, Yonsei University Health System, Seoul, Korea

    Sun Hee Kim & Yoon Jung Shin

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  1. Myung Ah Rhee
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  2. Kyong Mee Chung
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  5. Jung Woo Han
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  7. Sun Hee Kim
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  9. Chuhl Joo Lyu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Kyong Mee Chung or Chuhl Joo Lyu.

Additional information

Kyong-Mee Chung and Chuhl Joo Lyu have contributed equally as corresponding authors.

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Rhee, M.A., Chung, K., Lee, Y. et al. Impact of psychological and cancer-related factors on HRQoL for Korean childhood cancer survivors. Qual Life Res 23, 2603–2612 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-014-0709-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-014-0709-5

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