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Quality of Life Research
Published in: Quality of Life Research 4/2016

Open Access 01-04-2016

Long-term effects of goal disturbance and adjustment on well-being in cancer patients

Authors: Moniek Janse, Mirjam A. G. Sprangers, Adelita V. Ranchor, Joke Fleer

Published in: Quality of Life Research | Issue 4/2016

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Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the impact of personal goal disturbance after cancer diagnosis on well-being over time, and a possible moderating role of goal adjustment tendencies and actual goal adjustment strategies.

Methods

Participants (n = 186) were interviewed three times: within a month, 7 months (treatment period), and 18 months (follow-up period) after being diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Participants were asked to freely mention three to ten personal goals. Goal disturbance was assessed by the patients’ ratings of the amount of hindrance experienced in goal achievement. Goal adjustment tendencies were assessed using the Goal Disengagement and Re-engagement Scale and actual goal adjustment (i.e. goal flexibility) by the number of goal adjustment strategies used. Outcome measures were overall quality of life and emotional functioning, assessed with the cancer-specific EORTC QLQ-C30.

Results

Hierarchical regression analyses showed that goal disturbance predicted well-being over both the treatment and the follow-up period. Additionally, the negative effect of goal disturbance on well-being was less for patients who scored higher on goal disengagement and not significant for patients who were more flexible in their use of actual goal adjustment strategies.

Conclusions

The present study is the first to test the theoretical assumption that goal adjustment is beneficial after goal disturbance. Whereas these findings need to be confirmed in future research, the possibly beneficial role of goal disengagement and actual goal adjustment strategies can be used for psychological interventions.
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Metadata
Title
Long-term effects of goal disturbance and adjustment on well-being in cancer patients
Authors
Moniek Janse
Mirjam A. G. Sprangers
Adelita V. Ranchor
Joke Fleer
Publication date
01-04-2016
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Published in
Quality of Life Research / Issue 4/2016
Print ISSN: 0962-9343
Electronic ISSN: 1573-2649
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-015-1139-8

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