Changes in finding benefit after cancer surgery and the prediction of well-being one year later

Critical life events, such as cancer surgery, may result in finding some benefit in one's fate. In this longitudinal study with 117 cancer patients (73 men, 44 women) in hospitals in Berlin, we addressed three questions. (1) Do patients report benefit finding after surgery? (2) Are changes in b...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social science & medicine (1982) 2006-09, Vol.63 (6), p.1614-1624
Main Authors: Schwarzer, Ralf, Luszczynska, Aleksandra, Boehmer, Sonja, Taubert, Steffen, Knoll, Nina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Attitude to Health
Benefit finding
Biological and medical sciences
Cancer
Cancer surgery
Coping
Depression - psychology
Development
Federal Republic of Germany
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Germany
Humans
Interviews as Topic
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Miscellaneous
Neoplasms - psychology
Neoplasms - surgery
Patients
Personal growth
Posttraumatic growth
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Quality of Life
Regression Analysis
Social psychology
Social Support
Social support Coping Benefit finding Posttraumatic growth Cancer Germany
Surveys and Questionnaires
Survival
Survival strategy
Trauma
Traumatic incidents
Well-being
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Critical life events, such as cancer surgery, may result in finding some benefit in one's fate. In this longitudinal study with 117 cancer patients (73 men, 44 women) in hospitals in Berlin, we addressed three questions. (1) Do patients report benefit finding after surgery? (2) Are changes in benefit finding related to patients’ well-being? (3) Is social support associated with finding benefits in cancer? Patients were interviewed and completed a questionnaire in the week before cancer surgery. They were invited to participate in the follow-up by letter with a questionnaire at one month and again at 12 months postsurgery. Benefit finding was measured by a seven-item scale assessing different facets of positive changes attributed to experiencing grave illness. Although benefit finding increased over one year, change was substantial only for those who started off at a low level. Well-being was not associated with benefit finding at any point in time. However, changes in benefit finding predicted subsequent well-being. Received support was associated with benefit finding. Changes in benefit finding as well as initial support emerged as joint predictors of well-being.
ISSN:0277-9536
1873-5347
DOI:10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.04.004