BACKGROUND: Radiotherapy is one of the major methods for treating cancer, but many patients undergoing radiotherapy have deep concerns about receiving radiation treatment. This problem is not generally appreciated and has not been adequately studied. METHODS: The objective of this investigation was to empirically investigate the anxieties that cancer patients feel towards radiotherapy by using questionnaires to classify and quantitatively measure their concerns. A preliminary interview to develop a questionnaire was carried out with 48 patients receiving radiotherapy to discover their anxieties about on-going treatments. Subsequently, a main study was performed using a questionnaire with 185 patients to classify their types of anxiety and to ascertain the reliability and validity of the responses. Confirmatory factor analysis was then carried out with a 17-item Radiotherapy Categorical Anxiety Scale. RESULTS: Three anxiety factors were abstracted by factor analysis: (1) adverse effects of radiotherapy, (2) environment of radiotherapy, and (3) treatment effects of radiotherapy. Reliability, content validity, and concurrent validity were obtained. The adequacy of the three-factor model of anxiety concerning radiotherapy was confirmed. CONCLUSION: A 17-item Radiotherapy Categorical Anxiety Scale was formulated to quantitatively measure the specific types of anxiety among cancer patients receiving radiotherapy.
BACKGROUND: Radiotherapy is one of the major methods for treating cancer, but many patients undergoing radiotherapy have deep concerns about receiving radiation treatment. This problem is not generally appreciated and has not been adequately studied. METHODS: The objective of this investigation was to empirically investigate the anxieties that cancerpatients feel towards radiotherapy by using questionnaires to classify and quantitatively measure their concerns. A preliminary interview to develop a questionnaire was carried out with 48 patients receiving radiotherapy to discover their anxieties about on-going treatments. Subsequently, a main study was performed using a questionnaire with 185 patients to classify their types of anxiety and to ascertain the reliability and validity of the responses. Confirmatory factor analysis was then carried out with a 17-item Radiotherapy Categorical Anxiety Scale. RESULTS: Three anxiety factors were abstracted by factor analysis: (1) adverse effects of radiotherapy, (2) environment of radiotherapy, and (3) treatment effects of radiotherapy. Reliability, content validity, and concurrent validity were obtained. The adequacy of the three-factor model of anxiety concerning radiotherapy was confirmed. CONCLUSION: A 17-item Radiotherapy Categorical Anxiety Scale was formulated to quantitatively measure the specific types of anxiety among cancerpatients receiving radiotherapy.
Authors: S Mose; K M Budischewski; A N Rahn; A C Zander-Heinz; S Bormeth; H D Böttcher Journal: Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys Date: 2001-12-01 Impact factor: 7.038
Authors: A N Rahn; S Mose; A Zander-Heinz; K Budischewski; S B Bormeth; I A Adamietz; H D Böttcher Journal: Anticancer Res Date: 1998 May-Jun Impact factor: 2.480
Authors: Ana M Grilo; Ana I Gomes; Fátima Monsanto; Daniel Albino; Cláudio Augusto; Catarina Pragana Journal: Support Care Cancer Date: 2019-06-21 Impact factor: 3.603
Authors: Valerio Nardone; Alfonso Reginelli; Claudia Vinciguerra; Pierpaolo Correale; Maria Grazia Calvanese; Sara Falivene; Angelo Sangiovanni; Roberta Grassi; Angela Di Biase; Maria Angela Polifrone; Michele Caraglia; Salvatore Cappabianca; Cesare Guida Journal: Front Psychol Date: 2021-03-19