PSYCHOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF CANCER: WORRY, LIFE STYLE, SELF-EFICACY

Cancer, as one of the most current century diseases, is determined by the
unnatural deformation of cells and by the loss of cellar distinction. Some research show that
psychological factors affect on the start and progress of this disease. The present study investigates
the role of some psychological variables (worry, life style, self-efficiency) in patients suffering from
cancer.
Materials & Methods: This research is an expost factor research which is done on a sample of 50
patients who suffer from cancer and were hospitalized in Cancer Institute of Imam Khomeini Hospital
and 50 healthy persons as their accompanying in the hospital. They were selected by the accessible
sampling. To measure the research variables, Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ), lifestyle
questionnaire, and Sherrer and Madoex questionnaire of self-efficiency were used. The gathered data
was analyzed by SPSS (16.0 version) and independent sample t-test was used to analyze the research
hypotheses.
Results: there were significant differences Between the means of worry, life style and self-efficiency
in the two groups in a way that the mean of worry was higher in the patient group and the means of
life style and self-efficiency were higher in the healthy group.
Conclusion: the results of the study show that worry, self-efficiency, and lifestyle as psychological
variables have important roles in the physical and psychological health of people. Therefore, it is
really necessary to have a scientific program to improve life quality and educate people to overcome
stressful conditions.