Investigating the role of psychological flexibility, masculine self-esteem and stoicism as predictors of psychological distress and quality of life in men living with prostate cancer.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the predictive power of psychological flexibility, masculine self-esteem and stoicism in influencing psychological distress and quality of life in men diagnosed with prostate cancer. It explores relationships between these theorised predictors and prostate cancer physical symptoms, an established predictor of psychological distress and reduced quality of life.

METHOD: A quantitative cross-sectional survey was undertaken with 286 men previously diagnosed with prostate cancer. Correlation, hierarchical multiple regression and conditional process analysis were used to explore relationships between variables.

RESULTS: Psychological flexibility and masculine self-esteem predicted outcomes of distress (β = -0.41, p < 0.001; β = -0.27, p < 0.001, respectively) and quality of life (β = -0.28, p < 0.001; β = -0.28, p < 0.001, respectively), beyond the impact of physical symptoms. Stoicism showed only low correlations with other predictor and outcome variables (r < 0.1). Conditional process analysis showed psychological flexibility moderated the predictive effect of both prostate cancer physical symptoms and masculine self-esteem in predicting distress, but did not moderate these predictors on quality of life.

CONCLUSIONS: Interventions targeted at raising psychological flexibility, particularly those that encourage adaptive masculine values, may be effective in reducing psychological distress in prostate cancer patients.