Psychological distress and influencing factors in lung cancer patients based on the stress system model: a cross-sectional study

Abstract Background Lung cancer is one of the most prevalent causes of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Due to the low survival rate of patients with intermediate and advanced lung cancer, the challenging nature of treatment, the economic burden and the poor prognosis, most patients experience anxiety, fear and other psychological distress. If left untreated over a long period of time, these negative emotions will gradually develop into depression, anxiety or other serious mental illnesses. Furthermore, this can have a detrimental effect on the quality of life of the patient and the effectiveness of the treatment. Consequently, this study undertook a comprehensive investigation into the current status of psychological distress in patients with lung cancer and the factors that influence it. The findings provide a theoretical basis for clinical medical personnel to identify and implement timely, personalised psychological interventions. Methods Convenience sampling method was adopted to select lung cancer patients hospitalised in three hospitals in the country as the study subjects. General information questionnaire, psychological distress thermometer, cancer coping style questionnaire, brief illness perception questionnaire Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale, and Perceived Social Support Scale were used to conduct the survey. SPSS 25.0 software was used to analyse the collected data; univariate, correlation analysis and binary logistic regression were used to analyse and screen the factors of psychological distress in lung cancer patients. Results 435 lung cancer patients were finally included in this study. The results showed that the DT score was (4.24±2.356) and the prevalence of psychological distress was 52.87%. The results of binary logistic regression analysis showed that age, monthly family income, cancer coping styles, disease perception, symptoms and social support were the main correlates of psychological distress in lung cancer patients (P < 0.05). Conclusions As the detection rate of psychological distress in lung cancer patients is high, clinical staff should dynamically observe the psychological changes of lung cancer patients, do a good job in screening and stratified management of psychological distress, and provide personalised psychological guidance to establish a positive mindset, so as to reduce the negative emotions of patients,and to improve the quality of life of patients' health-related issues.