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The association between fear of cancer recurrence and quality of life among Chinese cancer survivors: main effect hypothesis and buffering hypothesis

Quality of Life Research volume 26, pages 2375–2385 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of the present study is to examine whether fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) is related to health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among Chinese cancer survivors, an understudied population (i.e., main effect hypothesis). Also, we investigated whether the FCR–HRQOL link is moderated by two coping strategies, avoidance and positive reappraisal (i.e., buffering hypothesis).

Methods

This is a cross-sectional study conducted among 238 Chinese cancer survivors in Beijing. Participants completed a set of questionnaires including FCR, coping, and HRQOL.

Results

FCR was related to lower physical, psychological, social, and spiritual well-beings, even when demographics, cancer-related factors, and coping were taken into account. There was only one moderation effect between FCR and avoidance coping. Surprisingly, the detrimental effect of FCR on spiritual well-being was lessened among those with high avoidance coping such that the negative association between FCR and spiritual well-being was only found in those with low avoidance coping and not among those with high avoidance coping.

Conclusions

Findings largely supported the main effect hypothesis. FCR was associated with diverse domains of HRQOL among Chinese cancer survivors. The buffering hypothesis was largely not supported in this population. Rather, in some cases, the effects of FCR and coping strategies on HRQOL were independent. Thus, ways to attenuate the harmful effects of FCR on HRQOL among Chinese cancer survivors remain unresolved. It is urgent and timely that future studies focus on FCR and HRQOL in this population.

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Fig. 1

Notes

  1. It can be controversial whether perceived growth is a process (e.g., coping) or an outcome. However, existing meta-analyses showed that the association between perceived growth and a certain coping strategy, specifically positive reappraisal, was large (see [12]; see also [13]), which supports that perceived growth can be conceptualized as a process.

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Author information

Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, 406 Babbidge Rd, Unit 1020, Storrs, CT, 06269-1020, USA

    Dalnim Cho

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Houston, 126 Heyne Building, Houston, TX, 77204, USA

    Qian Lu

Authors
  1. Dalnim Cho
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  2. Qian Lu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Dalnim Cho or Qian Lu.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Cho, D., Lu, Q. The association between fear of cancer recurrence and quality of life among Chinese cancer survivors: main effect hypothesis and buffering hypothesis. Qual Life Res 26, 2375–2385 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-017-1585-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-017-1585-6

Keywords

  • Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR)
  • Health-related quality of life (HRQOL)
  • Buffering
  • Coping
  • Moderation
  • Asian