Impact of social comparison on cancer survivors' quality of life: An experimental field study

Objective: For cancer survivors, the recovery phase after hospital treatment can be bothersome. Social comparison information from fellow cancer survivors can improve the quality of life in this situation. Method: In a randomized field experiment, 139 Dutch cancer survivors (M-age = 52 years; 70.5% women) were assigned to a control condition or 1 of 3 experimental conditions in which they listened to an interview with fellow cancer survivors. The interview's content is about patients' negative emotions and/or the effective coping strategies patients used. A validation study among 101 students showed that the conditions were perceived as intended. In the main study, quality of life was assessed after 2 months (using the LASA, Cantrils' Ladder, and 2 items of the EORTC-C30). Results: The effects of the interviews depended on the participants' self-reported health status and sensitivity to social comparison information (