Analysis of variables that impact psychological adaptation in home hospice patients.

In their efforts to understand the psychological impact of life-threatening illness upon individuals, researchers, for the most part, have focused on the distress associated with dying rather than the influences that promote adaptation. Early studies report relationships between the mental state of the dying and variables of age, religiosity, family relationships, and physical discomfort. This article analyzes and compares the influences of social support, pain, and age, which were confirmed in a causal model study, as direct predictors of an outcome of psychological adaptation. The data from a sample of 97 home hospice subjects is compared with other healthy, recovering ill, advanced ill, and psychiatric populations.