The Relationship Between Self-reported Cognitive Abilities and Psychological Symptoms in Breast Cancer Survivors

The objectives were to, primarily, examine the relationship between self-reported cognitive ability and psychological symptoms (anxiety and depressive symptoms) controlling for potential confounders of age, education, and time posttreatment and, secondarily, examine the relationship between self-reported cognitive domains (attention, language, visuoperception, visual memory, and verbal memory) and psychological symptoms. Methods This secondary data analysis pooled data from 2 theoretically and conceptually congruent, institutional review board–approved studies of BCSs. Breast cancer survivors completed the Multiple Ability Self-report Questionnaire (cognitive ability), Spielberger State Trait Anxiety Inventory—State (anxiety), and Center for Epidemiological Studies—Depression Scale (depressive symptoms). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and separate linear regression. Results One hundred fifty-five BCSs who were on average 54.8 (SD, 8.9) years of age, approximately 5 years (mean, 5.2 [SD, 3.8] years) posttreatment, and well-educated (mean, 15.2 [SD, 2.2] years) completed questionnaires. In bivariate correlations, higher anxiety and depressive symptoms were significantly related to cognitive abilities in all domains (P =
Source: Cancer Nursing - Category: Nursing Tags: ARTICLES Source Type: research