Personality matters: relationship between personality characteristics, spirituality, demoralization, and perceived quality of life in a sample of end-of-life cancer patients

Abstract

Purpose Personality could be an interesting dimension to explore in end-of-life cancer patients, in order to investigate how personality affects quality of life. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the relationship among personality through the Big Five Inventory (BFI), spirituality, and demoralization and to explore their impact on their quality of life. Methods A sample of 210 end-of-life Italian cancer patients were assessed with the BFI, the Demoralization Scale (DS), the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being (FACIT-SP-12), the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Scale–General Measure (FACT-G), and the Karnofsky performance status. Results Correlational analysis highlighted a significantly negative relationship between extraversion and agreeableness traits and all the demoralization dimensions. On the other side, neuroticism trait was significantly and positively correlated with the Demoralization Scale (p < 0.01). To understand the impact of these variables on quality of life (FACT-G), we performed a hierarchical multiple regression: in the final model, demoralization remained the strongest contributing factor (β = − 0.509, p < 0.001), followed by neuroticism (β = − 0.175, p < 0.001), spirituality (β = 0.163, p = 0.015), and Karnofsky index (β = 0.115, p = 0.012). Conclusion Our data underlined how both the neuroticism trait and demoralization are correlated with a worst health status in terminal cancer patients, whereas spirituality is a protective factor. The study of personality may allow to better understand the inner patient’s experience and improve communication between patient and healthcare staff in order to build and apply better-tailored psychological treatment.

Self-perceived burden predicts lower quality of life in advanced cancer patients: the mediating role of existential distress and anxiety

“…Kissane et al found the negative relationship between ED and QoL in advanced cancer patients [ 14 ]. Consistently, Ghiggia et al found that ED emerged as a risk factor for QoL in advanced cancer patients [ 15 ]. Anxiety is also revealed as a significant factor for QoL.…”

“…ED has been identified to be associated with worse physical, functional, and psychological well-being among cancer patients by previous study [ 24 ], which may account for its impact on QoL. Ghiggia’s [ 15 ] study further indicated that ED is a significant predictor of a diminished QoL of cancer patients.…”

“…As a response to a threat like cancer, anxiety could impair QoL, including physical, emotional, and social dysfunction [ 16 ]. A previous study reported that higher anxiety was collated with lower QoL in advanced cancer patients [ 15 ]. Another study also concluded that cancer patients with higher anxiety at the start of treatment is associated with decreased QoL at the beginning of therapy and post-diagnosis [ 17 ].…”

Demoralization profiles and their association with depression and quality of life in Chinese patients with cancer: a latent class analysis

“…Globally, demoralization is highly prevalent among patients with cancer; the pooled average prevalence was 24-36% from 2014 to 2020 worldwide [2]. The increasing trend of demoralization has been found to exist independently of depression [3][4][5][6][7], but leads to patients with cancer experiencing higher death anxiety [8], greater existential distress [9], poorer psychological well-being [10,11], and decreased quality of life (QOL) [12]. Notably, it is also associated with increased hastened death [7,13] and suicidal ideation [14][15][16][17][18].…”

Spirituality in Adults During a COVID-19 Lockdown

“…Spirituality and selfcare that connect individuals to themselves as well as activities that connect individuals to others and their physical environment, such as caregiving and housekeeping, may reduce negative mood symptoms and fatigue during a COVID lockdown. Spirituality Spirituality has been a protective factor against mental health problems including anger (Sigurvinsdottir et al, 2021), anxiety (Tolentino et al, 2022), suicidal behaviors (Hall et al, 2020), and demoralization (Ghiggia et al, 2021). Public Affairs Research reported that 12% of U.S. residents polled in October 2021 claimed to be religious and spiritual and 28% identified as spiritual but not religious (Brady, 2021).…”