Relationship of Posttraumatic Stress and Growth with Quality of Life in Childhood Cancer Survivors

Childhood cancer is an event with the potential for both posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and posttraumatic growth (PTG). While full PTSD is rare in childhood cancer survivors, PTG is common in this population. The relationship between posttraumatic stress (PTS) and PTG has not yet been clearly established, and the relationship between PTG and quality of life (QOL) is unclear. In a group of 188 childhood cancer survivors, we used correlation analysis to determine the relationship of PTS/PTG with specific dimensions of QOL. In the younger group (up to 12 years), the QOL correlated only with PTS, the connection with PTG was not proven. In the older group (from 13 years), QOL correlated with PTS and PTG, but correlations were stronger for PTS. The relationship between PTS and QOL was negative in both groups, the relationships between PTG and QOL in the older group was weakly positive. The relationship of PTG and successful adaptation and good QOL remains questionable