Emotional State in Patients with Cancer: Subjective Asessment by Accompanying Relatives

Relevance . Family members accompany patients with cancer throughout the treatment and rehabilitation process. Their involvement is often necessary due to the severity of the patient’s condition. Asthenia and fluctuations in emotional distress may reduce patients’ active engagement in the treatment process. Family members’ assessment of the patient’s emotional state and need for psychological support may, in turn, influence the quality of caregiving and support provided. Objective . To examine family members’ subjective assessments of the emotional experiences of patients with cancer. The methodology . The study employed clinical-psychological and experimental-psychological methods, including observation, questionnaires, and psychological testing. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and content analysis combined with cluster analysis. The results and their analysis . The findings demonstrated that family members’ subjective assessments of patients’ emotional states were associated with a range of clinical-psychological and sociodemographic characteristics of both the patient and the family member. The results also indicated considerable variability in the intensity and structure of emotional experiences among patients with cancer. Conclusion . The findings are of interest from the perspective of psychological assessment and suggest the potential value of incorporating family members into interventions aimed at improving patients’ treatment adherence. However, the issue requires further investigation because of the heterogeneity and ambiguity of the findings, as well as the need for larger samples and a broader methodological framework.