[online] Anxiety in Community, Oncology, Multiple Sclerosis and Eating Disorders Populations

Background

Anxiety disorders are prevalent conditions in people diagnosed with cancer, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), and eating disorders (EDs; Keski-Rahkonen & Mustelin, 2016; Stark, Kiely, Smith, Velikova, House, Selby, 2002; Thomas et al., 2006). Additionally, depression and anxiety are frequently comorbid with each other and this comorbidity is associated with greater distress, (Andrews et al., 2002), increased service utilisation (Burgess et al., 2009) and can also impact medical treatment decisions (Seo and Shin, 2019). Such findings demonstrate the complex comorbidity evident within medically unwell, and clinical populations, and highlight the importance of addressing this comorbidity. We are interested in developing a new psychological model of anxiety in those with cancer, MS or an ED and comparing this with medically well populations. We aim to do this by examining a number of transdiagnostic factors which are thought to contribute to the development and maintenance of anxiety (e.g., death anxiety, perfectionism, self-esteem), in individuals in general, as well as those with a lived experience of Cancer, MS or an ED. We are interested in comparing these factors in those with and without an illness.

Research Questions / Hypotheses

  1. To examine death anxiety, meaning, religiosity, body image, self esteem, depression and anxiety across different populations groups (i.e., those with cancer, MS, EDs and the general community).
  2. To examine predicted mediators and moderators of anxiety (e.g., depression, death anxiety, physical symptoms severity, age, weight stigma, perfectionism, self-esteem, meaning, religiosity) in a path analysis to see how these different transdiagnostic factors are related to each other in the different population groups.
  3. To examine the validity of the The Templer Death Anxiety Scale - Modified (TDAS-M) and the Death Attitudes Profile - Revised (DAP-R) in oncology, MS and ED populations.

Participants

A total of N = 373 REP participants completing this study. No participant exclusions were applied. We thank you for your assistance with this research!

Methods

This study includes completing a survey online via Qualtrics. Measures includes collecting demographic information, along with measures examining: depression, anxiety, ED symptoms, death anxiety, thoughts of death, health anxiety, self-esteem, perfectionism, meaning, internalised weight-stigma, values, self-focused attention and attitudes towards fatness. It also includes measures of physical functioning and disability.

Results

Recruitment of the illness populations is ongoing. As such, there are no analyses or results complete as yet. First, a validation study will be completed of the TDAS-M and DAP-R, to ensure these measures are valid in both the community and medically unwell populations. Second, a new psychological model of anxiety will be examined using path analysis.

Implications

The implications of the current research will be; a) to inform future treatments of anxiety in those with an illness, b) to assist in the prevention of anxiety in those with an illness, c) to enable medical, nursing and allied health professionals to provide more targeted supports to those with cancer, MS and EDs, and d) to allow future research a greater exploration of death anxiety in those with an illness.