The aims of this study of women with breast cancer were: to describe the levels of hope and compare hope scores for these patients with a sample from the general Norwegian population; to describe the relationship between hope and fatigue; and finally to evaluate the effect of demographic and clinical characteristics and fatigue on hope.
A total of 160 Norwegian outpatients with cancer and fatigue (>2.5 on a 0-10 scale) completed the Herth Hope Index (HHI), Fatigue Questionnaire (FQ), and Self-administered Comorbidity Questionnaire (SCQ).
The mean age of the women was 55.3 years (SD = 9.4), 81% lived with someone, and 67% were employed. The most common comorbidities were back pain (42%), osteoarthritis (26%), and headache (19%). The fatigued breast cancer patients reported significantly higher total hope scores than the general Norwegian population (p