Effects of emotional competences on esogastric cancer patients’ quality of life and distress after surgery

Abstract

Background: Previous studies showed that Emotional Competences (EC) are associated with less distress in cancer patients, suggesting that EC can be a protective factor of mental health. However, studies have been so far limited to cross sectional design. This study thus aimed to investigate the causal effects of EC (identification, understanding, expression, regulation and use of one’s own and other’s emotions) on esogastric cancer patients’ levels of anxiety, depression and quality of life. Methods: 132 patients with an esogastric cancer were tested after cancer diagnosis (T1) and after surgery (T2) and were asked to complete questionnaires about their EC (PEC), their levels of anxiety and depression (HADS) and about their quality of life (QLQ-C30). Multiple regressions were used to assess the effects of EC on quality of life, anxiety and depression symptoms at T1 and T2. Main findings: Intrapersonal EC (T1) were associated with less anxiety (β=-.25; p<.05) and depression (β=-.18; p<.09) symptoms at T2. Regarding the effect of EC on patients’ quality of life, intrapersonal EC (T1) were associated with a better emotional (β=-.37; p<.01), cognitive (β=-.24; p<.05) and social (β=-.21; p<.06) functioning at T1, but not at T2. Discussion: EC play a more important role in anxiety and depression symptoms than in quality of life among esogastric cancer patients. The study indeed revealed that intrapersonal EC (i.e., processing one’s own emotions) after diagnosis predict less affective distress after surgery. More investigations are necessary to better understand which intrapersonal EC have the most effect on patients’ outcomes.