Background: A rare cancer, uveal melanoma (UM) affects 5 in 1 million adults annually. Research on predictors of mental health in UM survivors is scarce.
Purpose: In this prospective study, we tested models that postulate interactions between illness perceptions and coping processes in predicting depressive symptoms 1 year following UM diagnosis.
Methods: Participants' approach- and avoidance-oriented coping processes and illness perceptions specific to control and chronicity were assessed. Participants (N = 107) completed assessments prior to diagnosis (T0), and 1 week (T1), 3 months (T2), and 12 months after UM diagnosis (T3).
Results: At T1, a significant avoidance coping × chronicity perception interaction (b = 1.84, p = .03) indicated that the link between higher avoidance coping and greater T3 depressive symptoms was stronger for participants with prolonged chronicity perceptions (b = 17.13, p < .001). Chronicity perceptions at T2 interacted significantly with approach-oriented coping at all time points; the link between higher approach coping and lower T3 depressive symptoms was stronger for participants with prolonged chronicity perceptions at T2. Interactions between control perceptions and coping did not significantly predict T3 depressive symptoms.
Conclusions: Findings lend partial support to predictive models that consider the combined, interacting influence of chronicity perceptions and coping processes on depressive symptoms in survivors of eye cancer.
Keywords: Cancer survivorship; Coping; Depression; Illness perception; Uveal melanoma.
The present study sought to identify psychological factors that were associated with depressive symptoms in adults diagnosed with uveal melanoma, a rare cancer. Understanding risk factors for depressive symptoms in cancer survivors is important, as heightened depressive symptoms have been shown to be associated with worse mental, physical, and disease-related outcomes in various cancer populations. In this study, uveal melanoma patients at University of California, Los Angeles were given questionnaires before their diagnosis, as well as 1 week, 3 months, and 1 year later. These questionnaires asked patients about their mental health, their efforts to cope with their cancer, and how they viewed their cancer. Adults with uveal melanoma were more likely to experience depressive symptoms 1 year after diagnosis when they had viewed their illness as more chronic in nature and also engaged in higher levels of cancer-related avoidance coping or lower levels of approach coping 3 months after their diagnosis. Findings highlight the impact that coping and perceptions of one’s illness can have on mental health in the year following an uveal melanoma diagnosis. Future work should test whether mental health interventions targeting coping behaviors and/or illness perceptions can help to prevent or reduce depressive symptoms in uveal melanoma survivors.
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