The relationship between learned resourcefulness and cancer-related fatigue in patients with non-hodgkin lymphoma

Purpose/Objectives: To investigate the effect of learned resourcefulness on fatigue symptoms in patients with nonHodgkin lymphoma (NHL) receiving chemotherapy. Design: Quasi-experimental with repeated measures. Setting: Two large hospitals in Israel. Sample: 46 patients with NHL. Methods: On the first day of a cycle of chemotherapy treatment, participants completed questionnaires assessing fatigue and learned resourcefulness. Fatigue was assessed again after 10 and 21 days. Main Research Variables: Cancer-related fatigue, learned resourcefulness. Findings: Fatigue increased 10 days following chemotherapy treatment and returned to pretreatment levels at day 21. Learned resourcefulness correlated negatively with each of the three measurements of fatigue. In addition, a calculated partial correlation showed the specific effect of learned resourcefulness on chemotherapy-related fatigue. Conclusions: The findings showed a negative correlation between a physiologic variable (fatigue) and a psychological variable (learned resourcefulness), which is related to individual coping ability. Implications for Nursing: Nurses should receive education about learned resourcefulness to potentially help patients with cancer cope with chemotherapy-related fatigue. Knowledge Translation: As learned resourcefulness was negatively correlated with chemotherapy-related fatigue in patients with NHL, having this personality trait may help those patients manage fatigue.