Department of Psychology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
Department of Psychology, The University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
Psychooncology. 2021 Apr;30(4):564-570. doi: 10.1002/pon.5603. Epub 2020 Dec 15.
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.
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.
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.
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.
事件中心性是指一个人将创伤事件视为自身身份核心的程度，它与各种创伤样本中的创伤后应激（PTS）症状和创伤后成长（PTG）结果有关。创伤框架被广泛用于理解儿童癌症对心理的影响；然而，事件中心性在该人群中尚未得到研究。我们调查了儿童癌症幸存者和健康对照组中的事件中心性，以及它与 PTS 和 PTG 结果的关系。
癌症幸存者年龄 13-23 岁（N=196）和健康对照组（N=131）完成了事件中心性量表以及 PTS 和 PTG 量表，参考他们最具创伤性的生活事件。首先将非癌症相关事件识别为最具压力事件的癌症幸存者，将针对所有事件重复所有测量。
与非癌症事件相比，癌症相关事件的中心性得分明显更高，即使对于癌症未被评为最具压力事件的幸存者也是如此（53.1%）。非癌症事件的中心性得分在幸存者和健康对照组之间没有显著差异。事件中心性与 PTS 和 PTG 结果均呈显著正相关。
无论经历是否被认为具有高度创伤性，儿童癌症经历都被视为幸存者身份的核心。癌症的中心性是癌症幸存者积极和消极心理结果的重要预测指标。
