The yellow brick road and the emerald city: Benefit finding, positive reappraisal coping and posttraumatic growth in women with early-stage breast cancer.

Abstract

Predictors and outcomes of benefit finding, positive reappraisal coping, and posttraumatic growth were examined using interviews and questionnaires from a longitudinal study of women with early-stage breast cancer followed from primary medical treatment completion to 3 (n=92) and 12 months (n=60) later. Most women (83%) reported at least 1 benefit of their breast cancer experience. Benefit finding (i.e., identification of benefits, number of benefits), positive reappraisal coping, and posttraumatic growth had distinct significant predictors. Positive reappraisal coping at study entry predicted positive mood and perceived health at 3 and 12 months and posttraumatic growth at 12 months, whereas benefit finding did not predict any outcome. Findings suggest that benefit finding, positive reappraisal coping, and posttraumatic growth are related, but distinct, constructs.

The association of benefit finding to psychosocial and health behavior adaptation among HIV+ men and women

“…Indeed, the majority of participants endorsed moderate to high levels of agreement with statements indicative of a major shift in perspective, priorities, and personal growth. Thus, consistent with findings from populations of bereaved individuals (Davis, Nolen-Hoeksema, & Larson, 1998), heart attack survivors (Affleck et al, 1987;Petrie et al, 1999), multiple-sclerosis patients (Mohr et al, 1999;Pakenham, 2005), and cancer patients Sears et al, 2003;Tomich & Helgeson, 2004), many HIV+ individuals report gains in the context of coping with a chronic, incurable illness. The tendency to perceive benefits in the context of being HIV+ was more common among African-American and female participants, relative to Caucasian and male participants.…”

Social support and posttraumatic growth in a longitudinal study of people living with HIV: the mediating role of positive affect

“…On the one hand, support seeking (Kent et al, 2013) and received social support (Schroevers, Helgeson, Sanderman, & Ranchor, 2010) were positively related to PTG among some cancer patients. Conversely, the link between social support and PTG was not found among cardiac patients (Sheikh, 2004) and other studies conducted on cancer patients (Sears, Stanton, & Danoff-Burg, 2003). Regarding PLWH, Siegel et al (2005) observed a positive association between emotional support and PTG among HIV-infected women, while Rzeszutek et al (2017) observed a direct positive effect of received support on PTG in a longitudinal study.…”

Curvilinear associations between benefit finding and psychosocial adjustment to breast cancer.

“…In some cases, BF related to more distress or poorer quality of life (Tomich & Helgeson, 2004). In others, no relation emerged between BF and distress or well-being (Antoni et al, 2001;Cordova, Cunningham, Carlson, & Andrykowski, 2001;Curbow et al, 1993;Fromm, Andrykowski, & Hunt, 1996;Schulz & Mohamed, 2004;Sears et al, 2003;Tomich & Helgeson, 2002;Widows, Jacobsen, Booth-Jones, & Fields, 2005).…”