TY - JOUR

T1 - Differential disgust responding in people with cancer and implications for psychological wellbeing

AU - Azlan, Haffiezhah A.

AU - Overton, Paul

AU - Simpson, Jane

AU - Powell, Phillip

N1 - This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Psychology and Health on 12/09/2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/08870446.2016.1235165

PY - 2017/1/2

Y1 - 2017/1/2

N2 - Objectives: Evidence suggests that disgust responses, known to negatively affect psychological wellbeing, may differ in people with cancer. We performed the first quantitative investigation of three discrete types of disgust trait - disgust propensity, sensitivity, and self-directed disgust - in people diagnosed with a broad range of cancers (versus cancer-free controls), and explored their associations with psychological wellbeing.Design: In a cross-sectional survey design, 107 participants with heterogeneous cancer diagnoses, recruited from cancer charities and support groups, were matched with cancer-free controls by age and gender.Outcome measures: Measures of the three disgust traits were taken alongside measures of anxiety and depression.Results: Disgust sensitivity and physical self-disgust were significantly higher in the cancer than control sample, while disgust propensity and behavioural self-disgust were lower. The disgust traits had a different pattern of associations to psychological wellbeing across the two groups, with disgust sensitivity predicting depressive symptoms to a significantly greater extent in the cancer than control group.Conclusions: People with cancer differ from matched controls in their disgust responses and these responses have significant predictive relationships with aspects of their psychological wellbeing. The results suggest that emotion-based interventions may be useful for improving psychological wellbeing in people with cancer.

AB - Objectives: Evidence suggests that disgust responses, known to negatively affect psychological wellbeing, may differ in people with cancer. We performed the first quantitative investigation of three discrete types of disgust trait - disgust propensity, sensitivity, and self-directed disgust - in people diagnosed with a broad range of cancers (versus cancer-free controls), and explored their associations with psychological wellbeing.Design: In a cross-sectional survey design, 107 participants with heterogeneous cancer diagnoses, recruited from cancer charities and support groups, were matched with cancer-free controls by age and gender.Outcome measures: Measures of the three disgust traits were taken alongside measures of anxiety and depression.Results: Disgust sensitivity and physical self-disgust were significantly higher in the cancer than control sample, while disgust propensity and behavioural self-disgust were lower. The disgust traits had a different pattern of associations to psychological wellbeing across the two groups, with disgust sensitivity predicting depressive symptoms to a significantly greater extent in the cancer than control group.Conclusions: People with cancer differ from matched controls in their disgust responses and these responses have significant predictive relationships with aspects of their psychological wellbeing. The results suggest that emotion-based interventions may be useful for improving psychological wellbeing in people with cancer.

KW - cancer

KW - disgust propensity

KW - disgust sensitivity

KW - oncology

KW - psychological wellbeing

KW - self-disgust

U2 - 10.1080/08870446.2016.1235165

DO - 10.1080/08870446.2016.1235165

M3 - Journal article

VL - 32

SP - 19

EP - 37

JO - Psychology and Health

JF - Psychology and Health

SN - 0887-0446

IS - 1

ER -