PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS THAT AFFECT THE SURVIVAL OF ADULT CANCER-PATIENTS - A REVIEW OF RESEARCH

The authors reviewed articles published from 1960 to 1996 that focused on research on psychosocial interventions and factors that affect sur vival from cancer. In general, they concluded that psychosocial interv entions are most effective in the early stages of disease, the stronge st predictors of survival are biological, the effects of psychological factors on survival are inconsistent in early stage disease and insig nificant in cases of metastatic cancer, sociodemographic variables (hi gh socioeconomic status, private health insurance, and involvement in social networks) are positively correlated with survival, and psychoso cial factors are more apparent in patients younger than 55 years.