Impact of malignant disease on young adultsPsychosocial Issues and Quality of Life
Section snippets
Developmental Tasks and Challenges in Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Patients and Survivors
According to Erikson,8 psychosocial development is characterized by eight age-related stages that span infancy to old age. Each stage is characterized by a specific crisis, or set of developmental issues, that must be resolved successfully if the individual is to proceed to the next stage of life. The fifth stage, identity versus role confusion, characterizes adolescence to early adulthood. The key developmental tasks of adolescence and young adult life include negotiation of independence from
Psychosocial Effects of Cancer in Young Adult Life
Against this background of developmental tasks that characterize young adult life, the experience of cancer poses a considerable threat. Chesler and Barbarin9 have described and organized these threats around five dimensions: intellectual, practical, interpersonal, emotional, and existential. The intellectual issues revolve around communication, dealing with information, and decision-making. Young people who have gained independence from their family may be confronted with highly complex
Definitions and Measurement of Quality of Life
The scientific study of quality of life is made complicated by the diverse ways in which the term is used in everyday language. To many people, quality of life is synonymous with happiness and relationships with family and friends. To others it is about material wealth. Beliefs about quality of life are dependent on the specific social, cultural, spiritual, and historical circumstances in which an individual lives. In the United States and Western Europe we take for granted running water, good
Psychosocial Interventions
Given that cancer affects so many aspects of people's lives, there is a need for psychosocial interventions across the disease trajectory. These interventions need to address the issues of specific concern to patients and their families, to have clear goals and systems of evaluation.
At diagnosis and during the early stages of treatment, there is a need for information of all kinds. This includes information about treatment protocols, as well as about how to integrate care into daily life.
Conclusions
We present a case that the psychosocial consequences of cancer have unique impacts on 20- to 39-year-olds, but current understanding is limited because inferences are made from work involving either children or older adults. Future work is dependent on development of age-appropriate HRQL measures. It is vital to initiate more basic research documenting the specific issues confronting the young adult age group. There is scope also to explore the value of psychosocial interventions generally,
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