Article: 1286747 | Received 27 Oct 2016, Accepted 22 Jan 2017, Published online: 23 Feb 2017
Abstract
Meaning
in life or lack of it is frequently associated to the psychological
adjustment to disease. This study aims at contributing to the
clarification of the concept and developing a meaning in life scale
which may be applied either in a clinical population or in the general
population as well as presenting its psychometric evaluation. Four
samples were used to perform the psychometric analyses, of which three
of them represented different diseases. Sample one consists of 200
patients with colorectal cancer, where 51% are males, sample two
consists of 150 females with breast cancer and sample three consists of
92 male patients mainly with prostatic cancer. Sample four consists of
88 healthy subjects of which 37.5% are males. Confirmatory Factorial
Analysis was performed, and the maximum likelihood extraction method was
applied. Findings suggested a unidimensional scale with a good model of
fit across the four samples, acceptable reliability and appropriate
convergent validity. There was a negative relationship with Anxiety and
Depression and a positive relationship with Quality of Life, Life
Satisfaction, Optimism and Social Support. No differences were found in
the new scale concerning gender and cancer types. The meaning in life
scale is a promising tool to be used in health settings.
Keywords: meaning in life, assessment, cancer, life satisfaction, optimism, anxiety, depression, social support, quality of life
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