Modeling posttraumatic growth among cancer patients: The roles of social support, appraisals, and adaptive coping.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of the study was to build a model to explain the relationships between social support, uncontrollability appraisal, adaptive coping, and posttraumatic growth (PTG) among cancer patients in China.

METHODS

The participants who were cancer patients in a cancer hospital in China filled out a survey. The final sample size was 201. Structural equation modeling was used to build a model explaining PTG.

RESULTS

Structural equation modeling results indicated that higher levels of social support predicted higher levels of adaptive coping, higher levels of uncontrollability appraisal predicted lower levels of adaptive coping, and higher levels of adaptive coping predicted higher levels of PTG. Moreover, adaptive coping was a mediator between social support and growth, as well as a mediator between uncontrollability and growth. The direct effects of social support and uncontrollability on PTG were insignificant.

CONCLUSIONS

The model demonstrated the relationships between social support, uncontrollability appraisal, adaptive coping, and PTG. It could be concluded that uncontrollability appraisal was a required but not sufficient condition for PTG. Neither social support nor uncontrollability appraisal had direct influence on PTG. However, social support and uncontrollability might indirectly influence PTG, through adaptive coping. It implies that both internal factors (eg, cognitive appraisal and coping) and external factors (eg, social support) are required in order for growth to happen.