Health Locus of Control and Health Behaviours in Lung Cancer Patients

With growing number of cancer survivors, health behaviours may become relevant not only to prevention of cancer recurrence and improved survival, but also to quality of life and the reduction of risk for other chronic diseases. Given the importance of relatively good health as a basis for many of life’s pursuits and pleasures, it is understandable that cancer patients would seek to avoid illness and death, and indefinitely seek to obtain a state of better health. The present study aimed at studying the relationship of health behaviours and health locus of control in patients diagnosed with lung cancer. Results show that internal health locus of control was positively correlated with health promoting behaviours and negatively correlated with health impairing behaviours and external health locus of control was negatively correlated with health promoting behaviours and positively correlated with health impairing behaviours.