Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining: An Investigation of Cancer Patients' Social Support, Coping Strategies, and Posttraumatic Growth

Abstract

This dissertation investigated social support, coping strategies, and posttraumatic growth among cancer patients in China. Study 1 examined sources of social support to explore helpful social support and unhelpful social support from different sources. Optimal matching theory (Cutrona & Russell, 1990) and Goldsmith’s (2004) social support theory served as the theoretical framework for Study 1. Twenty cancer patients in a cancer hospital were recruited to participate in phone interviews. An analysis of the detailed notes of the interviews revealed the major sources of patients’ social support came from family members and nurses. Patients described much more helpful support than unhelpful social support. Several other issues were discussed that were not covered by the research questions but were salient in the interviews were also discussed, such as nondisclosure practices in China and the use of euphemism when disclosing a cancer diagnosis in East Asian countries. The purpose of Study 2 was to test a model of the relationships between social support, uncontrollability appraisal, adaptive coping strategies, and posttraumatic growth. Two rounds of data collection were conducted among 201 cancer patients in a cancer hospital in China. The results of the hierarchical multiple regression indicated that, controlling for demographic factors such as age and education, social support and adaptive coping were positively correlated with posttraumatic growth. Uncontrollability, however, was not significantly correlated with posttraumatic growth. The results of the structural equation model 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 posttraumatic growth. Moreover, adaptive coping was a mediator between social support and growth, as well as a mediator between uncontrollability and posttraumatic growth. The implications of the findings and the contributions of the dissertation are discussed.