Uncertainty and adjustment during radiotherapy

The relationships among uncertainty, hope, symptom severity, control preference, and psychosocial adjustment were examined in persons having radiotherapy for cancer. After 15 days of radiotherapy, both uncertainty (17%) and hope (16%) explained significant amounts of the variance in adjustment. At the end of treatment, uncertainty (18%), hope (11%), and symptom severity (7%) all significantly increased the explained variance in adjustment. Greater uncertainty and less hope were associated with more adjustment problems; symptom severity increased the explanation of adjustment difficulty at treatment completion. There was no evidence that uncertainty had positive effects in this sample. Findings also showed that control preference was unrelated to the concepts of interest in this sample.