Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Mar;6(1):142-149.
doi: 10.1089/jayao.2016.0031. Epub 2016 Oct 28.

What a Pain: The Impact of Physical Symptoms and Health Management on Pursuit of Personal Goals Among Adolescents with Cancer

Lisa A Schwartz  1   2 , Lauren D Brumley  3
Affiliations

What a Pain: The Impact of Physical Symptoms and Health Management on Pursuit of Personal Goals Among Adolescents with Cancer

Lisa A Schwartz et al. J Adolesc Young Adult Oncol. 2017 Mar.

Abstract

Purpose: This study examined health-related hindrance (HRH) of personal goals among adolescents receiving treatment for cancer and healthy peers.

Methods: Adolescents and parents completed measures of demographics and psychosocial variables. Adolescents reported on their HRH, measured by ratings of the impact of pain, fatigue, other physical symptoms, and doing things to manage their health on self-identified personal goals. Disease-related information was abstracted from patient charts.

Results: Adolescents with cancer experienced significantly more HRH than healthy peers, and their HRH was significantly associated with poorer health-related quality of life (p < 0.001), negative affect (p = 0.03), and depressive symptoms (p = 0.03). Risk and resilience factors associated with HRH for those with cancer included pain (current and past month severity, frequency, and pain-related quality of life), fatigue, nausea, cognitive problems, worse parent-reported family functioning, and female gender. When testing these significant associates in a regression model predicting HRH among adolescents with cancer, those with more severe pain (p < 0.001) and worse parent-reported family functioning (p = 0.01) were significantly associated with HRH; fatigue was marginally (p = 0.09) significant.

Conclusions: Results suggest that HRH is a significant problem for adolescents with cancer, particularly those who are experiencing pain. Addressing pain and other symptom management, enhancing family functioning, and helping adolescents adjust their goals or enhance support for goal pursuit may reduce HRH among adolescents with cancer. This may improve psychosocial well-being, address adolescent unmet needs, and ultimately help adolescents with cancer maintain normal developmental trajectories.

Keywords: health-related quality of life; morbidity; pain management; psychosocial; supportive care.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No competing financial interests exist.

References

    1. Freyer DR, Felgenhauer J, Perentesis J; on behalf of the COG Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Discipline Committee. Children's Oncology Group's 2013 blueprint for research: adolescent and young adult oncology. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2013;60(6):1055–8 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gupta AA, Anderson JR, Pappo AS, et al. . Patterns of chemotherapy-induced toxicities in younger children and adolescents with rhabdomyosarcoma. Cancer. 2012;118(4):1130–7 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Larsen EC, Salzer W, Nachman J, et al. . Treatment toxicity in adolescents and young adult (AYA) patients compared with younger patients treated for high risk B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (HR-ALL): a report from the Children's Oncology Group Study AALL0232. Blood. 2011;118:1510
    1. Erickson JM, MacPherson CF, Ameringer S, et al. . Symptoms and symptom clusters in adolescents receiving cancer treatment: a review of the literature. Int J Nurs Stud. 2013;50(6):847–69 - PubMed
    1. Kestler SA, LoBiondo-Wood G. Review of symptom experiences in children and adolescents with cancer. Cancer Nurs. 2012;35(2):E31–49 - PubMed