Centrality of the childhood cancer experience and its relation to post-traumatic stress and growth.
Psychooncology
; 30(4): 564-570, 2021 04.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33232545
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
Event centrality, the degree to which a traumatic event is perceived as central to one's identity, has been associated with post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptoms and post-traumatic growth (PTG) outcomes in various trauma samples. Trauma frameworks are widely used to understand the psychological impact of pediatric cancer; however, event centrality has not been studied in this population. We investigated event centrality in pediatric cancer survivors and healthy comparisons, and its relation with PTS and PTG outcomes.METHOD:
Cancer survivors, age 13-23 (N = 196) and healthy comparisons (N = 131) completed the Centrality of Events Scale and PTS and PTG measures in reference to their most traumatic life event. Cancer survivors who first identified a non-cancer-related event repeated all measures in reference to cancer.RESULTS:
Centrality scores were significantly higher when referencing cancer compared to non-cancer events, even in survivors for whom cancer was not rated as most stressful (53.1%). Centrality scores for non-cancer events were not significantly different between survivors and healthy comparisons. Event centrality showed significant positive relations to both PTS and PTG outcomes.CONCLUSION:
The pediatric cancer experience is perceived as central to survivors' identity regardless of whether the experience is perceived as highly traumatic. Centrality of cancer is a significant predictor of both positive and negative psychological outcomes in cancer survivors.Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Trastornos por Estrés Postraumático
/
Crecimiento Psicológico Postraumático
/
Neoplasias
Tipo de estudio:
Prognostic_studies
Límite:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Child
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Psychooncology
Asunto de la revista:
NEOPLASIAS
/
PSICOLOGIA
Año:
2021
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos