Assessing the psychological predictors of benefit finding in patients with head and neck cancer

Abstract

These findings demonstrate that both dispositional and potentially modifiable factors, in particular optimism and coping strategies, were associated with patients identifying positive consequences of a diagnosis of HNC. To maximise patient's longer-term resilience and adaptation, components of BF, either directly or via coping strategies, could be targeted for intervention.

Illness perceptions and coping predict post-traumatic stress in caregivers of patients with head and neck cancer

“…The small sample may also have contributed to the high percentage of variance explained by illness perception and coping variables; future research in larger samples will likely moderate this degree of variation. Second, the behavioural disengagement subscale of the Brief COPE had low internal consistency, in line with previous research that has found the reliability of the questionnaire subscales to be highly variable [39]. Third, caregivers were a diverse sample (consisting primarily of spouses but also family members and friends).…”

Psychological Characteristics and Traits for Finding Benefit From Prostate Cancer

“…30 Regarding optimism, the literature suggests that individuals who have an optimistic outlook on life more readily extract a sense of benefit or gain even when they are faced with adverse or traumatic events, 18,31 thereby adding empirical evidence to the view that being optimistic is an important prerequisite to an individual's capacity for finding benefit. For anxiety, no association with finding benefit has been reported, 27Y29 whereas an inverse 27,30,32 or no association 28,29,33 has been reported for the role of depression for finding benefit. An inverse association between distress and finding benefit has been reported.…”

Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use and Benefit Finding Among Cancer Patients

“…[12][13][14] Because active coping encourages the individual to engage in efforts to manage distress in constructive ways, it is one method of facilitating benefit finding. 15,16 As active coping and benefit finding are related to improved psychosocial well-being, it is important to better understand the association between specific coping behaviors, such as the use of CAM, and the ability to find benefit in the cancer experience.…”