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Coping with a newly diagnosed high-grade glioma: patient-caregiver dyad effects on quality of life

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Abstract

Patients with high-grade gliomas (HGG) and their caregivers have to confront a very aggressive disease that produces major lifestyle disruptions. There is an interest in studying the ability of patients and their caregivers to cope with the difficulties that affect quality of life (QoL). We examine, in a sample of patient-caregiver dyads in the specific context of newly diagnosed cases of HGG, whether the QoL of patients and caregivers is influenced by the coping processes they and their relatives use from a specific actor–partner interdependence model (APIM). This cross-sectional study involved 42 dyads with patients having recent diagnoses of HGG and assessed in the time-frame between diagnosis and treatment initiation. The self-reported data included QoL (Patient-Generated Index, EORTC QLQ-C30, and CareGiver Oncology QoL), emotional status, and coping strategies (BriefCope). The APIM was used to test the dyadic effects of coping strategies on QoL. Coping strategies, such as social support, avoidance, and problem solving, exhibited evidence of either an actor effect (degree to which the individual’s coping strategies are associated with their own QoL) or partner effect (degree to which the individual’s coping strategies are associated with the QoL of the other member of the dyad) for patients or caregivers. For positive-thinking coping strategies, actor and partner effect were not observed. This study emphasizes that the QoL for patients and their caregivers was directly related to the coping strategies they used. This finding suggests that targeted interventions should be offered to help patients and their relatives to implement more effective coping strategies.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to all of the patients and the caregivers for their participation in the study. The authors thank Dominique Figarella (responsible-in-chief of the French Site de Recherche Intégrée sur le Cancer (SIRIC) gliomas program), Dominique David (President of the French Association of gliomas research, Association pour la Recherche sur les Tumeurs Cérébrales Sud-Est), and Céline Bequet (research clinic assistant) for their respective support.

Fundings

This project was funded by the French ‘Site de Recherche Intégrée sur le Cancer (SIRIC) gliomas program’. This work was supported by the National Clinical Research Quality of Life in Oncology Platform labelled by the National Cancer Ligue and the French National Cancer Institute (Grant INCa-DGOS-Inserm 6038).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. EA3279, Self-perceived Health Assessment Research Unit, Aix Marseille Université, 27 bd Jean Moulin, Marseille Cedex 05, 13385, France

      K. Baumstarck, T. Leroy, Z. Hamidou & P. Auquier

    2. National Clinical Research Quality of Life in Oncology Platform, Marseille, France

      K. Baumstarck, Z. Hamidou & P. Auquier

    3. Social Psychology Research Group (GRePS EA 4163), Université Lumière Lyon 2, Bron, France

      T. Leroy

    4. Department of Neuro-Oncology, Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Marseille, Timone Hospital, 13005, Marseille, France

      E. Tabouret, P. Farina, M. Barrié, C. Campello, G. Petrirena & O. Chinot

    5. Aix-Marseille Université, CRO2, 13385, Marseille, France

      E. Tabouret & O. Chinot

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    1. K. Baumstarck
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    Correspondence to K. Baumstarck.

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    Ethics

    Regulatory monitoring has been performed in accordance with the French law that requires the approval of the French ethics committee (Comité de Protection des Personnes Sud Méditerranée II, 6/6/2014, reference number 2014-A00585-42).

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    No author of this report had any conflicting or competing interest.

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    O. Chinot and P. Auquier have contributed equally to this work.

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    Baumstarck, K., Leroy, T., Hamidou, Z. et al. Coping with a newly diagnosed high-grade glioma: patient-caregiver dyad effects on quality of life. J Neurooncol 129, 155–164 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-016-2161-6

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-016-2161-6

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