Psychological flexibility and cancer: A measure of acceptance in patients with head and neck cancer.
详细信息
文摘
Psychosocial distress is commonly experienced by individuals who were recently diagnosed with cancer. Screening measures have been developed over the years to measure distress in patients at oncology clinics on a variety of distress constructs. However, much of the distress a patient experiences may occur subsequent to screening of common measures such as depression, anxiety, or quality of life. The current research proposes that screening patient levels of psychological flexibility may help to predict later instances of depression, anxiety, and poor quality of life. Psychological flexibility has been previously measured across general populations using the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-2 (AAQ-2). A list of items was devised to adapt the AAQ-2 to measure psychological flexibility in individuals with a diagnosis of cancer. The items were a part of a larger study conducted at a university clinic that serves patients with head and neck cancer. Archival data from this study was examined by the current author to perform an exploratory factor analysis and reliability estimates as measured by Cronbach's alpha in order to prepare the items for future scale construction. The results of the study indicated the retaining of 5 of the 8 original items. The items that were eliminated did not appear to be measuring the same construct as the other items and demonstrated poor internal reliability. After eliminating the 3 items, the remaining items yielded an internally stable set as measured by Cronbach's alpha. The current study demonstrated the reliability of these items in the measurement of psychological flexibility in individuals with head and neck cancer. Implications of the study include further development of the items as a usable screening instrument in other oncological settings. The items may also be utilized in programs that use Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for the mental health maintenance of patients with cancer.