Purpose: We aim to test whether resilience mediates the association of fear of progression (FoP) with quality of life (QoL) among ovarian cancer patients in China.
Methods: We collected 230 questionnaires from the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University in Liaoning Province, and 209 completed the questionnaire survey. The survey instrument consisted of four questionnaires: a sociodemographic and clinical characteristics questionnaire, the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy general instrument, the Fear of Progression Questionnaire-Short Form and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the relationship among FoP, resilience, and QoL, including physical well-being, social well-being, emotional well-being, and functional well-being. We used asymptotic and resampling strategies to examine the indirect effect of resilience.
Results: FoP was negatively associated with resilience (r =− 0.543, P < 0.01) and QoL (physical well-being: r =− 0.537, P < 0.01; social well-being: r =− 0.426, P < 0.01; emotional well-being: r =− 0.487, P < 0.01; functional well-being: r =− 0.529, P < 0.01). Resilience was positively related with QoL (physical well-being: r =0.449, P < 0.01; social well-being: r =0.548, P < 0.01; emotional well-being: r =0.430, P < 0.01; functional well-being: r =0.655, P < 0.01). Resilience partly mediated the association between FoP and physical well-being (a×b=− 0.05, BCa 95% CI: − 0.09, − 0.02), social well-being (a×b=− 0.21, BCa 95% CI: − 0.29, − 0.14), emotional well-being (a×b=− 0.05, BCa 95% CI: − 0.08, − 0.02), and functional well-being (a×b=− 0.24, BCa 95% CI: − 0.32, − 0.17). The proportion of the mediating effect accounted for by resilience were 22.57%, 57.22%, 26.02%, 53.42% for physical well-being, social well-being, emotional well-being and functional well-being, respectively.
Conclusion: The study showed that resilience could mediate the association between fear of progression and quality of life. It suggests that resilience might provide a potential target for intervention in quality of life with ovarian cancer.
Keywords: mediating role, fear of progression, quality of life, resilience, ovarian cancer patients