Radioiodine therapy: Risk perception, quality of life and coping mechanisms of thyroid cancer patients

Our primary goal is to identify how thyroid cancer patients perceive irradiation risk towards radioiodine treatment and how they cope with it. Our second goal is to identify if there's a relationship between risk perception and quality of life and if this relationship is mediated by coping toward illness. For this, three studies were conducted with a longitudinal follow-up. A first qualitative study aimed to identify the content of the perception of risk and to identify the evolution of the coping they use regarding risk during their hospitalization. Then, a first quantitative study seeks to confirm the evolution of the characteristics of risk perception over time while a second quantitative study tests the possible link between coping, risk perception and quality of life. The results indicate that patients report being more concerned about risk to others than about risk to themselves and patients use different coping to avoid their perception of risk to themselves. The results also show a significant decrease in levels of social quality of life three months after hospitalization. However, the relationship between coping, perception of risk and quality of life is not significant. In the context of the survey results, we propose suggestions to improve patient management. (author)