title: Longitudinal study of the protective effect of hope on reducing body image distress in cancer patients.
abstract: Body image distress is well-documented in patients with cancer, but little is known about the course of body image distress over time and the role of psychosocial resources such as hope. This prospective study sought to explore the dynamics between trajectories of body image distress and hope across time. Cancer patients receiving outpatient treatment at a cancer center completed self-reported measures of body image distress (Body Image Scale) and hope (Adult Hope Scale) at baseline (within three months of their cancer diagnosis) and follow-up (six months post-baseline; N = 111). Trajectories of intra-individual change (improved, stable, and declined) for body image distress were calculated based on the minimal clinically important difference (±0.5 baseline SD). There was a significant increase in body image distress at follow-up (p < .05); hope remained stable. Rank-transformed mixed-factor repeated measures analyses of variance revealed significant interactions between body image distress trajectory groups and time on hope, suggesting that patients experiencing improvements in body image distress reported higher levels of hope than those who had stable or deteriorating levels of body image distress F(2,108) = 3.25, p < .05. The findings of this exploratory study suggest that psychosocial resources like hope may also reduce body image distress across time in a sample of cancer patients, although the mechanisms of interaction require further examination. Supportive care could lend greater focus to improving patients' hope to alleviating body image distress.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychological Medicine , National University of Singapore , Singapore.|b Department of Psychology , National University of Singapore , Singapore.
authors.forename: Jianlin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychology , National University of Singapore , Singapore.
authors.forename: Konstadina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Griva
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychological Medicine , National University of Singapore , Singapore.
authors.forename: Haikel A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychological Medicine , National University of Singapore , Singapore.
authors.forename: Joyce Y S
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychological Medicine , National University of Singapore , Singapore.|c Department of Psychological Medicine , National University Hospital , Singapore.
authors.forename: Rathi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mahendran
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D065026:Hope; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D065840:Protective Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: body image distress; cancer patients; hope; longitudinal; psychological resources