Relationships among Activity Status, Anxiety, Depression, Social Support, Symptom Experience, and Functional Status in Lung Cancer Patients based on the Theory of Unpleasant Symptoms

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships of activity status, anxiety, depression, social support, symptom experience, and functional status in patients with lung cancer based on the theory of unpleasant symptoms. Methods: The participants for this study were 101 lung cancer patients who visited the outpatient department for treatment or follow-up at one hospital in Seoul. Data were collected from January 1 to February 8, 2013 using self-reported questionnaires and clinical records. To measure variables, the functional scale and symptom scale of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30, EORTC QLQ-Lung Cancer 13, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support were used in this study. The data were analyzed using SPSS 19.0 software for Windows. Results: The symptom experience showed more severity in patients with lower activity status, higher anxiety and depression. With lower activity status and social support, functional status was lower. When anxiety, depression, and symptom experience were higher, functional status was also lower. The significant factors predicting symptom experience were depression, anxiety, activity status, and social support, which explained 57.8% of the variance. Conclusion: These results suggest that psychological factors such as anxiety and depression had a negative influence on the symptom experience of lung cancer patients. Therefore, providing emotional support based on the patients' needs prior to providing symptom management could be a useful strategy for improving symptom experience and functional status