Investigating psychological mechanisms linking pain severity to depression symptoms in women cancer survivors at a cancer center with a rural catchment area

Purpose Women cancer survivors, especially those in rural areas, with high levels of depression may be acutely susceptible to pain due to the ways they think, feel, and behave.

The current study seeks to elucidate the relationship between symptoms of depression and pain severity in women cancer survivors, by examining the putative mediators involved in this relationship, specifically their self-efficacy for managing their health, how overwhelmed they were from life’s responsibilities, and relational burden.

Methods Self-report data were collected from 183 cancer survivors of breast, cervical, ovarian, or endometrial/uterine cancer, who were between 6 months and 3 years post-active therapy.

Results Women cancer survivors with higher (vs. lower) symptoms of depression had more severe pain.

Individual mediation analyses revealed that survivors with higher levels of depression felt more overwhelmed by life’s responsibilities and had lower self-efficacy about managing their health, which was associated with greater pain severity.

When all mediators were simultaneously entered into the same model, feeling overwhelmed by life’s responsibilities significantly mediated the link between survivors’ symptoms of depression and their pain severity.

Conclusions The relationship between symptoms of depression and pain severity in women cancer survivors may be attributed in part to their self-efficacy and feeling overwhelmed by life’s responsibilities.

Early and frequent assessment of psychosocial factors involved in pain severity for women cancer survivors may be important for managing their pain throughout the phases of cancer survivorship.