Effect of cancer pain on performance status, mood states, and level of hope among Taiwanese cancer patients

The purposes of this study were: 1) to compare performance status, mood states, and level of hope between patients with cancer pain and patients without cancer pain; and 2) to determine the relationships of pain intensity and pain interference with daily life to performance status, mood states, and level of hope. A total of 233 Taiwanese cancer patients with pain and 251 without pain participated. The self report instruments consisted of the Chinese version of the Profile of Mood States (POMS) short form, the Chinese version of the Herth Hope Index, the Brief Pain Inventory-Chinese version (BPI-C), the Chinese version of the Karnorfsy Performance Scale (KPS), and a demographic questionnaire. The major findings of this study were that cancer patients with pain reported significantly lower levels of performance status and higher levels of total mood disturbance than did cancer patients who did not experience pain after controlling for sex, disease stage, and recruitment site. In addition, patients with cancer pain experienced significantly more anger, fatigue, depression, confusion, and lethargy than did patients without pain after controlling for sex, disease stage, and recruitment site. Among patients with pain, pain intensity was significantly correlated with performance status and mood state, but not with level of hope. Pain interference with daily life was significantly correlated both with performance status, mood state, and level of hope. Pain intensity and pain interference were significantly correlated with each mood state as well as with total mood disturbance. This study has demonstrated the effect of cancer pain on patients' physical, psychological, and spiritual life and has supported the multidimensional notion of the cancer pain experience in Taiwanese patients.