Unveiling the Role of Pain Catastrophising as a Predictor of Fear of Personal Death amongst Brain Tumour Patients.

Abstract

Objectives: According to the National Health Portal, brain cancer is witnessing an upward curve in India. The reports by medical professionals suggest that brain tumours will become the second most common cancer by 2030. Any life-threatening illness not only impacts the physical well-being of the patient but also affects the mental well-being of the patient. As an interdisciplinary field, psychology aims to understand the psychosocial components of an illness that goes beyond the realm of medical treatments. Hence, the present study focused on two psychological constructs, namely Pain Catastrophising and Fear of Personal Death. The present research aims to evaluate the relationship between Pain Catastrophising and Fear of Personal Death as well as assess the predictive role of Pain Catastrophising for Fear of Personal Death.

Materials and methods: A correlational design was adopted for the present study. The sample consisted of 180 patients who were diagnosed with a brain tumour and were scheduled for surgery for the removal of the tumour. A purposive sampling technique was used for the selection of the sample. Data were collected on two psychological measures, namely the Pain Catastrophising Scale and the Fear of Personal Death Scale. Pearson's product-moment method and regression analysis were employed for statistical analysis.

Results: The findings highlight that there exists a positive association between the two components of Pain Catastrophising, namely Magnification (r = 0.644, P < 0.01) and Helplessness (r = 0.456, P < 0.01) with the Fear of Personal death. Rumination (0.026, P > 0.05) component exhibited no association with Fear of Personal Death. Linear regression analysis reveals that magnification (R = 0.644, R2 = 0.414, F = 125.861, P < 0.01) and helplessness (R = 0.456, R2 = 0.208, F = 46.857, P < 0.01) are significant predictors of Fear of Personal Death for the selected sample.

Conclusion: Pain Catastrophising tendencies and feelings of Fear of Personal Death are prevalent amongst the selected cohort. Pain-catastrophising components are significantly associated with fear of personal death (FPD) and are also significant predictors of FPD amongst brain tumour patients.