THE MEDIATING ROLE OF RESILIENCE IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RUMINATION-REFLECTION AND POSTTRAUMATIC GROWTH IN CANCER PATIENTS

Abstract

Today, cancer is considered a major public health problem that creates a lot of stress and can significantly affect a person's life quality in a negative way. Cancer patients who experience post-traumatic growth are more successful in responding to their illness, are reported to be healthier both physically and mentally, and have fewer symptoms of post-traumatic stress and anxiety. Thus, the present study tries to investigate the model of predicting post-traumatic growth based on rumination-reflection by the mediating role of resilience. The research was conducted by using the correlation method and path analysis. The sample consisted of 300 cancer patients who attended the hospitals in Tehran, and they were selected by purposive sampling. Participants completed the questionnaires of ruminant-reflection (Trapnell and Campbell, 1999), post-traumatic development (Tedeschi and Calhoun, 1996), and resilience (Connor & Davidson, 2003). The results showed that rumination-reflection affected the posttraumatic growth of cancer patients directly and indirectly (by the mediating resilience). Resilience also had a significant direct effect on post-traumatic growth. Thus, to promote post-traumatic growth in cancer patients, resilience and rumination/reflection can be increased.