The impact of emotional well-being on long-term recovery and survival in physical illness: a meta-analysis

• Published in: Journal of behavioral medicine Vol. 35; no. 5; pp. 538 - 547
• Main Authors: Lamers, Sanne M. A., Bolier, Linda, Westerhof, Gerben J., Smit, Filip, Bohlmeijer, Ernst T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.10.2012; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Affect; Disease - psychology; Emotional wellbeing; Emotions; Family Medicine; General Practice; Health Psychology; Humans; Life satisfaction; Medical research; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Medicine, Experimental; Mental Health; Moderators; Patient Satisfaction; Prognosis; Psychological aspects; Recovery; Review; Survivors - psychology; Systematic review; Wellbeing; Physical illness; Prognosis; Emotional well-being; Recovery; Survival; Meta-analysis
• ISSN: 0160-7715; 1573-3521; 1573-3521
• DOI: 10.1007/s10865-011-9379-8

This meta-analysis synthesized studies on emotional well-being as predictor of the prognosis of physical illness, while in addition evaluating the impact of putative moderators, namely constructs of well-being, health-related outcome, year of publication, follow-up time and methodological quality of the included studies. The search in reference lists and electronic databases (Medline and PsycInfo) identified 17 eligible studies examining the impact of general well-being, positive affect and life satisfaction on recovery and survival in physically ill patients. Meta-analytically combining these studies revealed a Likelihood Ratio of 1.14, indicating a small but significant effect. Higher levels of emotional well-being are beneficial for recovery and survival in physically ill patients. The findings show that emotional well-being predicts long-term prognosis of physical illness. This suggests that enhancement of emotional well-being may improve the prognosis of physical illness, which should be investigated by future research.