Association between personality traits and self-care behaviors in patients with gastrointestinal cancer undergoing outpatient chemotherapy: A cross-sectional study

Objective: To improve the side effects of chemotherapy, practicing self-care behaviors is important for patients with cancer to continue treatment and maintain their quality of life. Herein, we aimed to assess the association between personality traits and self-care behaviors among patients with gastrointestinal cancer undergoing outpatient chemotherapy. Methods: This study included patients who received intravenous chemotherapy at a designated regional cancer hospital in Japan between June 2020 and October 2020. A self-administered survey was conducted using the Japanese version of the Ten-Item Personality Inventory and a unique 29-item questionnaire to assess self-care behaviors. The correlation of each item was analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Results: In total, 53 (93.0%) responses were obtained from 57 participants, of which 52 (91.2%) complete responses on personality traits were valid. The mean personality trait scores ranged from 6.7 ± 2.8 for neuroticism to 11.0 ± 1.9 for agreeableness. A high degree of openness had a moderately significant positive correlation with adjustment of exercise (ρ = .49, p < .01) and adaptation to changes in appearance (ρ = .41, p < .01). Additionally, a high degree of conscientiousness had a significant positive correlation with the acquisition of information on disease and treatment (ρ = .30, p = .03) and confirmation of inspection results (ρ = .39, p < .01). Conclusions: Openness and conscientiousness were significantly associated with patients' self-care behaviors. Assessing these personality traits before initiating chemotherapy can predict self-care behaviors and provide individualized support, considering the limited involvement at outpatient visits.