Perceived stressfulness of cancer, coping strategies, social support and optimism as predictors of posttraumatic growth among cancer patients

Rak je bolest koja već desetljećima kod ljudi izaziva veliki strah. Suočiti se s dijagnozom raka nikome nije lagano niti jednostavno. Već prva sumnja na moguću dijagnozu ove bolesti izaziva veliki stres, koji kasnije može biti praćen raznolikim emocionalnim krizama. Unatoč svim neugodnim iskustvima povezanih s rakom, bolesnici često izvještavaju o nekim pozitivnim posljedicama nakon njega. Posttraumatski rast odnosi se na pozitivne promjene koje nastaju kao rezultat borbe s velikim životnim krizama. Te promjene najčešće nastaju u 5 područja: osobnom osnaživanju, otvaranju novih mogućnosti, odnosima s drugima, promjeni stava prema životu i njegovom većem vrednovanju te u duhovnoj domeni. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati ulogu percipirane stresnosti raka, strategija suočavanja, socijalne podrške i optimizma u objašnjavanju posttraumatskog rasta onkoloških bolesnica. Istraživanje je provedeno na uzorku od 114 onkoloških bolesnica, kojima je od završetka liječenja prošlo između 1 mjeseca i 10 godina. Korišten je jednokratni korelacijski nacrt, a u istraživanju su korišteni sljedeći mjerni instrumenti: Skala percipirane stresnosti raka, Skraćena verzija COPE upitnika, Ljestvica za procjenu stupnja socijalne podrške, Skala optimizma – pesimizma, Upitnik posttraumatskog rasta te Upitnik općih podataka konstruiran za potrebe ovog istraživanja. Prikupljanje podataka provedeno je online anketom i tehnikom papir-olovka. Provedenom hijerarhijskom regresijskom analizom utvrđeno je kako su percipirana stresnost raka i optimizam pozitivni prediktori posttraumatskog rasta onkoloških bolesnica, dok se socijalna podrška nije pokazala kao značajan prediktor. Povrh percipirane stresnosti raka, optimizma i socijalne podrške, strategije suočavanja značajno su objasnile varijancu posttraumatskog rasta onkoloških bolesnica. Od strategija suočavanja jedino je pozitivno razmišljanje bilo značajno pozitivno povezano s posttraumatskim rastom. Navedeni set varijabli objasnio je ukupno 53,2% varijance posttraumatskog rasta onkoloških bolesnica.Cancer is a disease that has been causing fear in people for decades. Facing the diagnosis of cancer is not easy or simple for anyone. Even the first possibility of suffering from cancer causes big stress, which may later be accompanied with various emotional crises. Despite all the unpleasant experiences associated with cancer, patients often find some positive consequences of it. Posttraumatic growth refers to the experience of positive changes as a result of struggle with a major life crisis. These changes usually occur in 5 areas: Personal Strength, New Possibilities, Relating to Others, Appreciation of Life and Spiritual Change. The aim of this research was to examine the role of perceived stressfulness of cancer, coping strategies, social support and optimism in explaining posttraumatic growth of cancer patients. This cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 114 women with cancer, that have compleated treatment between 1 month and 10 years. The following measurement instruments were used in this study: Scale of perceived stressfulnes of cancer, Brief COPE Questionnaire, Scale of perceived social support, Scale of optimism – pessimism, The Posttraumatic Growth inventory and general data questionnaire, designed for the purpose of this study. Data was collected through online survey and paper-pencil techniques. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that perceived stressfulness of cancer and optimism were positive predictors of posttraumatic growth of cancer patients, while social support was not a significant predictor. Above the perceived stressfulness of cancer, optimism and social support, coping strategies have significantly explained the variance of posttraumatic growth of cancer patients. From the coping strategies, only positive thinking was positively associated with posttraumatic growth. This set of variables explained a total of 53,2% variance of posttraumatic growth of cancer patients