ENFORCED SOCIAL DEPENDENCY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO CANCER SURVIVAL

PURPOSE: This study examined relationships between survival time and e nforced dependency in a group of patients with cancer. DESCRIPTION OF STUDY: Data are reported from 141 patients with solid tumor cancers wh o participated in aa interview around the time of their discharge from the hospital. Measures included medical history, demographic characte ristics, and five measures of psychosocial status, including enforced personal and social dependency. Patients were followed 2 to 4 pars lat er to ascertain survival status and, for those who had died, dates of death. Psychosocial variables were used as potential predictors in a m ultivariate model of survival time, which also included variables meas uring severity of illness. RESULTS: Enforced personal and social depen dency, but not the other psychosocial variables, were found to contrib ute significantly to the model of survival time. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS : These findings suggest that survival of patients with cancer might b e improved by an intervention targeted at enforced social dependency.