Antivital experiences of oncologic patients against the background of antitumor treatment and in the long term period

Background. Despite the success of the treatment of oncological diseases, which significantly increase the duration and quality of life of patients, the oncological disease still has a stressful character. The situation of oncological disease affects all the functioning systems of oncologic patients (biological, physical, mental and social), influencing lifestyle in general. Such changes are often accompanied by anxiety-depressive, anti-vital reactions among oncologic patients, which, on the one hand, reflect the process of experiencing a difficult life situation, and on the other hand, create a situation of risk of low adherence to treatment, Objective. Analysis of anti-vital trends among oncologic patients, which allows identifying factors provoking an increase in these trends and evaluating the effectiveness of psychocorrectional measures for anti-vital experiences. Methods. In the period from 2018 to 2020, a study of oncologic patients with anti-vital experiences, depressive and anxious reactions of varying severity was conducted on the basis of the N.N. Petrov National Medical Research Center of Oncology. All patients received individual and group psychological correction as part of a cognitive-behavioral approach. Psychodiagnostic examination of patients was carried out using a clinical diagnostic conversation, the Hopelessness Scale, the hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale before, immediately after and 6 months after psycho-corrective measures. Results. There were two subgroups of patients: the subgroup with severe anti-vital experiences included patients with malignant neoplasms of the gastrointestinal tract (43%), head and neck (36%), lung (21%), 34% of patients had stage III disease, 66% of patients - IV stage. The second subgroup included patients demonstrating mild anti-vital experiences with malignant neoplasms of the mammary gland (39%), organs of the female reproductive system (23%), urogenital system (20%) and lymphoproliferative diseases (18%), 69% of patients had stage II diseases and 31% - stage III. According to the results of the study, it was found that patients of the first subgroup show a high level of hopelessness according to the Beck scale (13.6), coupled with a high level of depression according to HADS scale (10.4, r=2.6 at p=0.041). The second subgroup is characterized by low indicators of hopelessness (4.7, p=0.035), coupled with high rates of anxiety (10.8, p=0.045). Conclusion The risk group for enhancing anti-vital experiences included patients with the following characteristics: male gender, old age, loneliness or social isolation, loss of social-role functioning, time after diagnosis (first year), localization of the tumor process (tumors of the gastrointestinal tract, head and neck , lung), stage of the tumor process (III, IV), physical distress (pain, asthenia). Psychological correction in the framework of cognitive-behavioral therapy in a family, individual and group format is effective to reduce anti-vital experiences within 6 months after the end of psychocorrectional measures

anti-vital experiences, psychological rehabilitation, psychological correction, oncologic patients