Cancer is not solely a biomedical disease. It is a complex life event that disrupts the physical, psychological, social and existential dimensions of a person's life (Engel, 1977; Grassi et al., 2017; Mehnert et al., 2018).
This page summarises an empirical project by Konstantinos Vlogiaris, supervised by Dr Sidra Afzal, at the University of Sunderland's School of Psychology — exploring the psychological burden of cancer patients from a student perspective.
Globally, cancer causes ~10 million deaths a year. But for those who live, survival rarely equals recovery. These are the burdens the research keeps surfacing:
Roughly 1 in 2 cancer patients experience clinically significant distress; depression and anxiety are the most common (Mehnert et al., 2018; Mitchell et al., 2011).
Diagnosis and treatment can be experienced as a traumatic stressor, producing intrusive memories, avoidance and hypervigilance (Kangas et al., 2002).
Survival is not recovery — many survivors live with persistent fear of relapse (Simard et al., 2013; Lebel et al., 2016).
Cancer confronts patients with mortality, meaning, identity and purpose (Breitbart et al., 2015; Yalom, 1980).
Help-seeking is often suppressed by stigma; relationships strain under shifting roles (Else-Quest et al., 2009; Hagedoorn et al., 2008).
Treatment costs, lost income and reduced work capacity compound psychological suffering (Carreira et al., 2018; de Boer et al., 2009).
78 undergraduate psychology students (55 female, 23 male) completed adapted cancer knowledge and attitudes items and the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (Spreng et al., 2009).
MANOVA showed a significant multivariate effect of gender.
Females reported significantly more positive attitudes, p = .032.
Females scored significantly higher on empathy, p = .019.
Theoretical knowledge of cancer was broadly similar across genders, but affective and evaluative engagement with patient suffering differed meaningfully — shaped by biology, socialisation (Oakley, 1972), cognitive schemas (Bartlett, 1932) and masculinity norms (Gough & Novikova, 2020).
Pain, suffering, trauma and adversity are normal aspects of life. Existential meaning and hope may act as psychological antidotes. Healing takes time and practice — but it is achievable.
Read the full empirical project and academic poster.