Coping strategies in advanced lung cancer patients referred for specialist palliative care – validation of Brief COPE inventory in Hindi

Lung cancer is the most common cancer worldwide in males and females combined, accounting for 11.6% of the total cancer patients and  the leading cause of cancer death  accounting for 18.4% of the total cancer deaths. It is the expected to be the 6th most common cause of death by 2030. In India, according to GLOBOCAN 2018, approximately 70,000 new cases of lung cancer were estimated in male and female combined with a very high mortality rate.

At every stage of the disease, patients with lung cancer can find themselves dealing with distressing and difficult situations. They can develop various problems like sadness, depression and other psychological symptoms which can even interfere with their daily functioning.

Patients with incurable lung and gastrointestinal cancer who received Early Palliative Care (EPC) showed increased use of approach-oriented coping, associated with better Quality of Life and decreased negative symptoms like depression.

Most of the studies done in the area of coping strategies in advanced lung cancer are from developed countries where the sociodemographic scenarios are different from developing countries. The studies done in India on coping strategies have included advanced cancer patients in general. No studies have addressed coping strategies in advanced lung cancer patients specifically and in specialist palliative care setting, to the best of our knowledge.Also Brief COPE has not been validated in Hindi version for use in this group of patients.

The aim for this study is to validate the Brief COPE in Hindi language to assess the coping strategies of advanced lung cancer patients referred for specialist palliative care, in the context of a tertiary care cancer centre in a developing country.