Quality of life in cancer as a function of temperament, coping and posttraumatic stress disorder

The research presented in this paper explores the relationship between three blocks of explaining variables, ie. temperamental traits, stress coping PTSD and the explained variable which is quality of life in a sample of patients diagnosed with cancer. One hundred and twenty nine participants aged 24–81 years, 69 females diagnosed with breast cancer and 60 males diagnosed with lung cancer completed Formal Characteristics of Behaviour – Temperament Inventory (FCB-TI), Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS), PTSD Inventory (PTSD-C) and Quality of life SF-36 questionnaire. Higher level of emotional reactivity was associated with lower emotional quality of life. Higher level of emotion oriented-coping and higher level of avoidant-distracted coping was associated with higher level of intrusion/arousal and avoidance/numbing, ie. dimensions of PTSD symptoms. There were no statistically significant associations between temperamental traits and stress coping strategies nor between PTSD symptoms level and quality of life. Emotion-oriented coping and avoidant-distracted coping are ineffective in dealing with stress in the situation of patients diagnosed with cancer, because it leads to higher level of PTSD symptoms. The significance of temperamental traits for quality of life in the situation of the patients is marginal. Control of specific factors concerned with current health and treatment status is needed the future research.