Measurement of Loneliness Among Clients Representing Four Stages of Cancer: An Exploratory Study

摘要

This exploratory research project studies loneliness in clients in four stages of cancer. The purpose was to determine if cancer clinets at various stages of illness experience loneliness and the differences in the degree of loneliness between groups of cancer clinets at various stages of illness. Forty-seven clients (21 males and 26 females) participated in the study: 12 in the initial diagnosis stage, 12 in the remission stage, 12 in the recurrence stage and 11 in the terminal stage. The Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale was administered to 'measure clients' degree of loneliness. Two hypotheses were proposed for this study: (1) clients with cancer would experience loneliness, and (2) there would be a significant difference in the degree of perceived loneliness experienced by clients in four different stages of illness. The first hypotheses was supported. The mean scores indicated that cancer clients do experience loneliness. A moderate degree of loneliness was found in clients who were initially diagnosed with cancer. Selected clients in all four stages of cancer (34%) did have survey scores indicating moderate to moderately high degrees of loneliness. The second hypothesis was not supported. A one-way analysis of variance at .05 level of significance was accomplished but there was no significance difference noted between any of the groups.