Positive psychological changes after breast cancer diagnosis and treatment: The role of trait resilience and coping styles

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the relationships among trait resilience, coping styles, and perceived positive psychological changes in women’s lives after breast cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Design: The study adopted a cross-sectional design.

Sample/Method: A total of 201 participants diagnosed with stage I-IV breast cancer were recruited. The average time since diagnosis was 39.14 months. Four rating scales were used to assess the participants’ trait resilience, coping styles, perceived growth, and health-related quality of life. These are the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), the Mini-Mental Adaptation to Cancer Scale (Mini-MAC), the Chinese Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Scale-Breast (FACT-B).

Findings: Hierarchical analysis showed that trait resilience significantly predicted high levels of perceived growth and health-related quality of life. This effect was moderated by Positive-Acceptance coping. The study also found that Negative-Affect coping had a direct effect on lowering health-related quality of life but had no influence on perceived growth.

Conclusions: These findings highlight the facilitating effect of trait resilience and Positive-Acceptance coping on the psychological well-being and perceived growth among breast cancer outpatients.

Implications: Trait resilience may be a protective, even facilitating factor of cancer adaptation. The knowledge that trait resilience offers a way to enhance wellness after cancer diagnosis and treatments may be useful in a clinical setting.

Keywords:

• breast cancer
• coping style
• posttraumatic growth
• quality of life
• resilience

Additional information

Funding

This study is supported by the Chung Yuan Christian University under grant number (107011031/107011032).