THE ROLE OF MONITORING IN DETERMINING QUALITY-OF-LIFE FOLLOWING TREATMENT FOR A BONE-TUMOR

Interviews were conducted with 34 young people who had previously been treated for a malignant bone tumor around the knee. These interviews focused on the impact of treatment on activities and perceptions of th e risk of recurrence and need for future surgery. A coding schema base d on a ''monitoring-blunting'' framework was adopted (Miller, 1995). Q uality of life was assessed using a generic and disease-specific measu re. Based on interview data, respondents were categorized as negativis tic monitors, adaptive monitors, and nonmonitors. There were no differ ences between groups in terms of medical indicators (number of operati ons). Negativistic monitors reported poorer quality of life compared w ith the other two groups. There was no increase in nonmonitoring with time since diagnosis as reported in previous work. It is suggested tha t patients' self-ratings of quality of life are related to the way in which they monitor information and this may be independent of clinical function. Clinical implications, especially in terms of how potential ly threatening information about late-effects of treatment are given t o patients, are discussed.