Resilience in Cancer Patients

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Background: Being diagnosed with cancer and undergoing its treatment are associated with substantial distress that can cause long-lasting negative psychological outcomes. Resilience is an individual’s ability to maintain or restore relatively stable psychological and physical functioning when confronted with stressful life events and adversities. Posttraumatic growth (PTG) can be defined as positive life changes that result from major life crises or stressful events.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to 1) investigate which factors can strengthen or weaken resilience and PTG in cancer patients and survivors; 2) explore the relationship between resilience and PTG, and mental health outcomes; and 3) discuss the impact and clinical implications of resilience and PTG on the process of recovery from cancer.

Methods: A literature search was conducted, restricted to PubMed from inception until May 2018, utilizing the following key words: cancer, cancer patients, cancer survivors, resilience, posttraumatic growth, coping, social support, and distress.

Results: Biological, personal, and most importantly social factors contribute to cancer patients’ resilience and, consequently, to favorable psychological and treatment-related outcomes. PTG is an important phenomenon in the adjustment to cancer. From the literature included in this review, a model of resilience and PTG in cancer patients and survivors was developed.

Conclusions: The cancer experience is associated with positive and negative life changes. Resilience and PTG are quantifiable and can be modified through psychological and pharmacological interventions. Promoting resilience and PTG should be a critical component of cancer care.

Related collections

Most cited references 120

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Development of a new resilience scale: the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC).

Kathryn M Connor, Jonathan Davidson (2003)

Resilience may be viewed as a measure of stress coping ability and, as such, could be an important target of treatment in anxiety, depression, and stress reactions. We describe a new rating scale to assess resilience. The Connor-Davidson Resilience scale (CD-RISC) comprises of 25 items, each rated on a 5-point scale (0-4), with higher scores reflecting greater resilience. The scale was administered to subjects in the following groups: community sample, primary care outpatients, general psychiatric outpatients, clinical trial of generalized anxiety disorder, and two clinical trials of PTSD. The reliability, validity, and factor analytic structure of the scale were evaluated, and reference scores for study samples were calculated. Sensitivity to treatment effects was examined in subjects from the PTSD clinical trials. The scale demonstrated good psychometric properties and factor analysis yielded five factors. A repeated measures ANOVA showed that an increase in CD-RISC score was associated with greater improvement during treatment. Improvement in CD-RISC score was noted in proportion to overall clinical global improvement, with greatest increase noted in subjects with the highest global improvement and deterioration in CD-RISC score in those with minimal or no global improvement. The CD-RISC has sound psychometric properties and distinguishes between those with greater and lesser resilience. The scale demonstrates that resilience is modifiable and can improve with treatment, with greater improvement corresponding to higher levels of global improvement. Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

0 comments Cited 2587 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Making sense of the meaning literature: an integrative review of meaning making and its effects on adjustment to stressful life events.

Crystal Park (2010)

Interest in meaning and meaning making in the context of stressful life events continues to grow, but research is hampered by conceptual and methodological limitations. Drawing on current theories, the author first presents an integrated model of meaning making. This model distinguishes between the constructs of global and situational meaning and between "meaning-making efforts" and "meaning made," and it elaborates subconstructs within these constructs. Using this model, the author reviews the empirical research regarding meaning in the context of adjustment to stressful events, outlining what has been established to date and evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of current empirical work. Results suggest that theory on meaning and meaning making has developed apace, but empirical research has failed to keep up with these developments, creating a significant gap between the rich but abstract theories and empirical tests of them. Given current empirical findings, some aspects of the meaning-making model appear to be well supported but others are not, and the quality of meaning-making efforts and meanings made may be at least as important as their quantity. This article concludes with specific suggestions for future research.

0 comments Cited 587 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Positive change following trauma and adversity: a review.

P. Alex Linley, Stephen Joseph (2004)

Empirical studies (n = 39) that documented positive change following trauma and adversity (e.g., posttraumatic growth, stress-related growth, perceived benefit, thriving; collectively described as adversarial growth) were reviewed. The review indicated that cognitive appraisal variables (threat, harm, and controllability), problem-focused, acceptance and positive reinterpretation coping, optimism, religion, cognitive processing, and positive affect were consistently associated with adversarial growth. The review revealed inconsistent associations between adversarial growth, sociodemographic variables (gender, age, education, and income), and psychological distress variables (e.g., depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder). However, the evidence showed that people who reported and maintained adversarial growth over time were less distressed subsequently. Methodological limitations and recommended future directions in adversarial growth research are discussed, and the implications of adversarial growth for clinical practice are briefly considered.

0 comments Cited 392 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Contributors

Annina Seiler: URI : https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/577995

Josef Jenewein: URI : https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/570595

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Front Psychiatry

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Front Psychiatry

Journal ID (publisher-id): Front. Psychiatry

Title: Frontiers in Psychiatry

Publisher: Frontiers Media S.A.

ISSN (Electronic): 1664-0640

Publication date (Electronic): 05 April 2019

Publication date Collection: 2019

Volume: 10

Electronic Location Identifier: 208

Affiliations

[1] ¹Department of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine, University Hospital Zurich , Zurich, Switzerland

[2] ²Clinic Zugersee, Center for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy , Oberwil-Zug, Switzerland

Author notes

Edited by: Chantal Martin Soelch, Université de Fribourg, Switzerland

Reviewed by: Jutta Lindert, University of Applied Sciences Emden Leer, Germany; Natasa Jokic-Begic, University of Zagreb, Croatia

*Correspondence: Annina Seiler, annina.seiler@ 123456usz.ch

This article was submitted to Mood and Anxiety Disorders, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry

Article

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00208

PMC ID: 6460045

PubMed ID: 31024362

SO-VID: e687b125-3956-4d2b-b159-e391966e21da

License:

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

History

Date received : 20 June 2018

Date accepted : 22 March 2019

Page count

Figures: 1, Tables: 1, Equations: 0, References: 156, Pages: 35, Words: 6752

Comments

Comment on this article

scite_

Cited by 102

See all cited by

- Version 1

Resilience in Cancer Patients

Read this article at

Abstract

Related collections

Cancer Metabolism

Most cited references 120

Development of a new resilience scale: the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC).

Making sense of the meaning literature: an integrative review of meaning making and its effects on adjustment to stressful life events.

Positive change following trauma and adversity: a review.

Author and article information

Contributors

Journal

Affiliations

Author notes

Article

History

Page count

Categories

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 771

Cited by 102