Research examining psychological outcomes of people diagnosed with primary brain tumours indicates that distress is common. However, research demonstrates mixed findings with regards to those factors associated with psychological distress. This thesis explores factors that relate to psychological outcomes in this group, using the self regulation model as a specific framework for understanding the individuals' experience. In section one, a narrative review examines research pertaining to the experience of living with a primary brain tumour and explores the relevance of the self regulation model to this population. The review suggests a number of illness perception dimensions are linked to psychological distress, specifically, illness coherence, consequences and causal attributions. However, the review highlights that the field of psychosocial brain tumour research has yet to fully exploit the potential of the self regulation model. Section two reports findings from a quantitative study carried out using a sample of 74 adult participants from the UK who have been diagnosed with a low grade primary brain tumour. The relationship between the domains of the self regulation model and psychological outcomes is investigated. Other, more established variables, which have been shown to predict psychological distress, are also investigated. Findings indicate a biopsychosocial causal attribution predicts both anxiety and depression in this group. In addition, the illness perceptions variables of illness coherence and illness identity contributed to the prediction of anxiety and depression, respectively. Furthermore, cognitive difficulties were found to predict scores on all three psychological outcomes. Personal and methodological reflections are discussed in section three along with considerations of areas for future research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:552819 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Booth, Melanie |
| Publisher | Lancaster University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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