Worries and Benefit Finding in Cancer Survivors and Parents: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Objective The interplay and longitudinal associations between positive and negative illness-related experiences in childhood cancer survivors and their families remain unclear. Therefore, benefit finding, cancer-related worries, depressive symptoms, and life satisfaction were prospectively investigated in childhood cancer survivors and parents. Directionality of effects and interactions between benefit finding and cancer-related worries in predicting general well-being were examined. Methods Childhood cancer survivors (n = 125 at T1; aged 14–25), mothers (n = 133 at T1), and fathers (n = 91 at T1) completed two annual questionnaires on benefit finding, cancer-related worries, depressive symptoms, and life satisfaction. Cross-lagged panel analyses including benefit finding, cancer-related worries, their interaction, and depressive symptoms or life satisfaction were conducted in survivors, mothers, and fathers. Results Relatively high stability coefficients were found for all study variables. In survivors, cancer-related worries predicted relative increases in depressive symptoms and benefit finding over time. Benefit finding predicted relative increases in life satisfaction over time and buffered negative effects of cancer-related worries on life satisfaction. In mothers and fathers, positive correlated change at T2 (the correlation between residuals at T2) indicated that relative change in benefit finding over time was positively related to relative change in cancer-related worries. Conclusion Benefit finding was related both to positive well-being and negative illness experiences, which calls for more research to unravel the different functions of benefit finding over time. Clinicians should be encouraged to attend to positive illness experiences along with more negative ones to obtain a more nuanced view on the illness experiences of survivors and their families.

The Preliminary Efficacy of a Program to Facilitate Benefit Finding for People with Mental Illness: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial in Japan

“…Additionally, participants in the intervention group had the sessions on stress management, including coping, and learned, practiced, and shared their stress management. As earlier studies suggested [ 15 , 37 ], improved stress management could contribute to better subjective well-being. In addition, according to the social cognitive processing theory, the disclosure of one’s own experiences can enable a coherent restructuring of tough memories into existing schemas, which leads to stress relief and improved health [ 19 ].…”

“…Previous studies suggested that the experience of benefit finding would contribute to further progress in personal recovery among people with mental illness. Particularly, enhancing benefit finding may lead to higher personal recovery as well as subjective well-being and better mental health [ 7 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]. Therefore, many studies to date have emphasized the significance to facilitate benefit finding, including for people with mental illness [ 8 , 13 , 14 ].…”

Associations between cancer‐related distress and fatigue in childhood cancer survivors: A longitudinal study

“…The current study was part of a larger cohort study, the LInC‐study: Longitudinal Identity study in CCS, approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of KU Leuven (Prikken et al. (2022) 28 ).…”

“…Full details on all included questionnaires in the LInC‐study were described previously (Prikken et al. (2022) 28 ). To examine our objective, we focused on the assessment of fear of cancer recurrence, post‐traumatic stress, resilience and fatigue at two timepoints with a 1‐year interval (T1 and T2).…”

Concerns experienced by parents of children treated for cancer: A qualitative study to inform adaptations to an internet‐administered, low‐intensity cognitive behavioral therapy intervention

“…Completion of childhood cancer treatment is a period of vulnerability for parents 1,2 with most actively involved in the child's physical and psychosocial care related to the cancer years after treatment. After treatment, many parents adequately adjust and cope successfully with the transition, 2,3 reporting positive changes such as posttraumatic growth 4 and benefit finding (e.g., finding purpose in life and developing helpful coping strategies) 5 . Despite this, anxiety, depression, post‐traumatic stress (PTSS), 2 , 6 – 8 productivity losses, 9 and restrictions on daily life 10 are reported by a subgroup of parents.…”