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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Age and depression in patients with metastatic cancer
— the protective effects of attachment security and spiritual wellbeing | | Author(s) | Christopher Lo, Judy Lin, Lucia Gagliese |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 30, part 2, February 2010 |
| Pages | pp 325-336 |
| Source | http://www.journals.cambridge.org/aso doi:10.1017/S0144686X09990201 |
| Keywords | Cancer ; Depression ; Personal relationships ; Spiritual characteristics [elderly] ; Well being ; Correlation ; Canada. |
| Annotation | Psychological distress in cancer patients is inversely related to age, although the reasons are unclear. The adult development literature suggests that ageing may be associated with the development of adaptive capacities, specifically greater attachment security (the sense that others will be available and supportive when needed) and spirituality (the capacity to view one's life as having meaning, purpose and value), that enable older people to cope better with disease. The authors examined whether age-related patterns in attachment security and spiritual well-being account for the protective effect of age against distress. Measures of depression, attachment security, spiritual well-being and disease burden were collected from 342 Canadian patients aged from 21 to 88 years with advanced, metastatic cancer. Attachment security and spiritual well-being were tested as mediators of the effect of age on depression, controlling for disease burden. It was found that age was associated inversely with depression and positively with spiritual well-being and attachment security. Depression was inversely related to attachment security and spiritual well-being, and the effect of age on depression was fully mediated by attachment security and spiritual well-being. The relative protection from psychological distress among older cancer patients may be the result of age-related developmental accomplishments and/or differences in the response to adverse life-events. (KJ/RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-100201215 A |
| Classmark | CK: ENR: DS: EX: D:F:5HH: 49: 7S |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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