Prevalence of aspects of distress, coping, support and care among adolescents and young adults undergoing and being off cancer treatment.

The overall aim is to describe the prevalence of physical and psychosocial distress, coping, support and care among adolescents and young adults who are both undergoing and off cancer treatment, and who find life satisfying or less satisfying. Prevalence of distress, coping, support and care were investigated using the Life Situation Scale for Adolescents (LSS-A) answered by 15 adolescents and young adults undergoing cancer treatment and 39 adolescents and young adults off cancer treatment. More adolescents and young adults receiving treatment reported problems with fatigue, eating, hair loss, taking medications/tablets and having to plan everything according to hospital visits than those adolescents and young adults off treatment. Fewer adolescents and young adults who reported finding life satisfying reported problems with fatigue, eating, not having any influence on their own life, often being sad and problems with school/work than those finding life less satisfying. Whether adolescents and young adults find life satisfying or not is not related to whether they are undergoing or off cancer treatment. The findings indicate the importance for those working with adolescent cancer victims to be alert of the fact that the treatment period is connected with more problems related to physical distress than the period after treatment, whereas aspects of psychosocial distress are as prevalent during the treatment period as they are after.