Do ongoing lifestyle disruptions differ across cancer types after the conclusion of cancer treatment?

Introduction: Cancer interferes with participation in valued lifestyle activities (illness intrusiveness) throughout post-treatment survivorship. We investigated whether illness intrusiveness differs across life domains among survivors with diverse cancers. Intrusiveness should be highest in activities requiring physical/cognitive functioning (instrumental domain). Intrusiveness into relationship/sexual functioning (intimacy domain) should be higher in prostate, breast, and gastrointestinal cancers than in others.

Methods: Cancer outpatients (N = 656; 51% men) completed the Illness Intrusiveness Ratings Scale (IIRS) during follow-up. We compared IIRS Instrumental, Intimacy, and Relationships and Personal Development [RPD] subscale and total scores across gastrointestinal, lung, lymphoma, head and neck, prostate (men), and breast cancers (women), comparing men and women separately.

Results: Instrumental subscale scores (M(men) = 3.05-3.80, M(women) = 3.02-3.63) were highest for all groups, except prostate cancer. Men with prostate cancer scored higher on Intimacy (M = 3.40) than Instrumental (M = 2.48) or RPD (M = 1.59), p's < .05; their Intimacy scores did not differ from men with gastrointestinal or lung cancer. Women collectively showed higher Instrumental (M = 3.39) than Intimacy (M = 2.49) or RPD scores (M = 2.27), p's < .001, but not the hypothesized group difference in Intimacy.

Conclusions: Post-treatment survivors continue to experience some long-term interference with activities requiring physical and cognitive functioning. Sexual adjustment may be of special concern to men when treatments involve genitourinary functioning.

Implications For Cancer Survivors: Ongoing monitoring with the IIRS to detect lifestyle interference throughout survivorship may enhance quality of life. Screening and intervention should target particular life domains rather than global interference.