The influence of coping strategies on subsequent well‐being in older patients with cancer: A comparison with 2 control groups

To evaluate dispositional coping strategies as predictors for changes in well-being after one year in older patients with cancer (OCP) and two control groups. OCP were compared with two control groups: middle-aged patients with cancer (MCP) (ageing effect) and older patients without cancer (ONC) (cancer effect). Patients were interviewed shortly after a cancer diagnosis and one year later. Dispositional coping was measured with the Short Utrecht Coping List. For well-being, we considered psychological well-being (depression, loneliness, distress) and physical health (fatigue, ADL, IADL). Logistic regression analyses were performed to study baseline coping as predictor for subsequent well-being while controlling for important baseline covariates. A total of 1245 patients were included in the analysis at baseline: 263 OCP, 590 ONC, and 392 MCP. Overall, active tackling was employed most often. With the exception of palliative reacting, OCP utilized each coping strategy less frequently than MCP. At one-year follow-up, 833 patients (66.9%) were interviewed. Active coping strategies (active tackling and seeking social support) predicted subsequent well-being only in MCP. Avoidance coping strategies did not predict well-being in any of the patient groups. Palliative reacting predicted distress in OCP; depression and dependency for ADL in MCP. Coping strategies influence subsequent well-being in patients with cancer, but the impact is different in the age groups. Palliative reacting was the only coping strategy that predicted well-being (i.e. distress) in OCP and is therefore, especially in this population, a target for coping skills interventions.