Measures Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy: Prostate (FACT-P). The FACT-P (Cella et al., 1993; Esper et al., 1997) is a widely-used self-report measure(e.g., Bellardita et al., 2013) that assesses health-related quality of life among individuals with prostate cancer, yielding scales related to physical, emotional, social, and functional-well-being, as well as well-being related to prostate health, specifically. Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). The PHQ-9 (Kroenke, Spitzer, & Williams, 2001) is a 9-item self-report screening instrument to assess symptoms of depression over the past two weeks. Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) scale. The GAD-7 (Spitzer et al., 2006; Lowe et al., 2008) is a 7-item self-report screening instrument to assess symptoms of depression over the past two weeks. NEO Five Factor Inventory, 3 rd Edition (NEO-FFI-3; Costa & McCrae, 1992): The NEO-FFI-3 is a 60- item self-report measure that assesses personality functioning along the widely used Five Factor model of personality. The NEO-FFI-3 yields standard T-scores for traits Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Participants Men in the current study (N = 38) had a median age of 68 (range 52-79) and education of 15.5 years (range 10-20). A majority identified as Caucasian/European-American (86%), with smaller proportions identifying as Hispanic/Latino (8%), African-American (3%), or Other (3%). Three participants (8%) declined to provide ethnic identity. Procedures Participants completed all questionnaires between simulation visits and their first day of radiation therapy. Introduction Results Assessing psychological risk and protective factors prior to radiotherapy may help identify patients in the most need of education or psychosocial support and intervention, thereby informing individualized treatment planning. The current study builds upon existing literature that supports the connection between QOL and psychological states and traits, through the finding that there are some QOL domains with stronger associations to psychological states and traits than others. Specifically, with our sample, the strength of the association between QOL domains and psychological risk factors was stronger than that between QOL domains and psychological protective factors. Future directions of study include prospectively measuring the predictive value of baseline state and trait risk and protective factors on post-treatment QOL, treatment satisfaction, and other outcome measures related to both behavioral and physical health. Determining if and how baseline state and trait factors affect response to psycho- oncologic intervention will also be an important future direction in furthering our ability to offer individualized and holistic treatment planning. Psychological State and Trait Correlates of Quality of Life Prior to Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer Sara Walker 1,2, Yiyi Chen¹, Kyungjeen Paik ¹, Alexis Fields¹, Brandy Mirly ¹, Charles Thomas Jr.¹, & Arthur Hung¹ ¹ Department of Radiation Medicine, Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health & Science University 2 Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health & Science University Conclusions For additional questions, please contact Sara Walker at Background/Rationale : Improvement in the effectiveness of cancer treatments has increased the need to focus on survivors’ quality of life (QOL). Individuals with cancer often experience stressful psychological states, with impact on QOL (Harrington, et al., 2010), response to psychosocial intervention (Schneider et al., 2010), and disease-related mortality (Pinquart & Duberstein, 2010). Better understanding the heterogeneity in individuals’ psychological adjustment to cancer diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship may help inform valid screening practices to identify patients most in need of psychosocial support. In addition to psychological state (i.e., symptoms present over the past 1-2 weeks), psychological traits (i.e., more stable, personality differences) have also been associated with markers of physical health (Friedman et al., 2010) and with quality of life among individuals with cancer (Hartl et al., 2010). However, there has been limited investigation into the relationships between these factors among individuals with prostate cancer, specifically. Aims : The specific aim of the current study investigates correlates of psychological state and trait with QOL prior to radiotherapy for non-metastatic prostate cancer. Hypotheses : 1) QOL will be positively correlated with trait Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness, 2) QOL will be negatively correlated with state depression/anxiety and trait Neuroticism. Descriptive Statistics : QOL indices fell across a wide range, although the averages tended to be in the upper end of possible ranges in physical, social, emotional, and functional domains (see Table 1). Depression and anxiety symptoms were also endorsed across a wide range. On average, however, depression and anxiety scores were mild or less. Personality trait factor T-scores tended to cluster around the normative mean of 50, as would be expected, with some scores falling lower (i.e., Neuroticism) or higher (i.e., Agreeableness) within that normative range. Results, Hypothesis 1 – Partially Supported : This hypothesis was supported by the finding that Extraversion was positively associated with social(p < 0.05) and functional (p < 0.05) well- being, as well as well-being related prostate cancer specific symptoms (p < 0.05). Contrary to Hypothesis 1, however, the traits of Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness were not significantly correlated to any measured QOL domain. Results, Hypothesis 2 – Supported : As hypothesized, higher depression and anxiety were significantly negatively correlated with physical, emotional, functional, and prostate cancer-specific well-being (all p <.001). Neuroticism was also significantly negatively associated with physical, emotional, functional, and prostate cancer-specific well-being (all p < 0.01). A surprising finding was the lack of significant association between social well- being and psychological state or trait risk factors. Methods Physical Well-BeingSocial Well-BeingEmotional Well- Being Functional Well- Being Well-Being Related to Prostate Cancer Depression (PHQ-9) -0.72*** ***-0.60***-0.66*** Anxiety (GAD-7) -0.56*** ***-0.55***-0.57*** Neuroticism -0.43** **-0.43**-0.48** Extraversion * *0.39* Openness to Experience Agreeableness Conscientiousness Table 2. Pearson correlation coefficients * p <.05; ** p <.01; *** p <.001 MSDRange Physical Well-being (0-28) Social Well-being (0-28) Emotional Well-being (0-24) Functional Well-being (0-28) Prostate Cancer Scale (0-48) Depression (PHQ-9; 0-27) Anxiety (GAD—7; 0-21) Neuroticism T-score Extraversion T-score Openness T-score Agreeableness T-score Conscientiousness T-score Table 1. Descriptive Statistics