Post-Traumatic Growth among Family Caregivers of Cancer Patients and Its Association with Social Support and Hope

Abstract

Background: Cancer not only is a traumatic experience for the patients, but also can affect the familycaregivers. Post-traumatic growth (PTG) refers to positive psychological changes experienced bypeople as a result of a struggle in dealing with traumatic events in life. Both the patients and theircaregivers may experience PTG. The present study aimed to assess the extent of PTG in caregivers ofpatients with gastrointestinal cancer and to examine the relationship between the PTG dimensions andboth the social support (SS) and hope.Methods: The present descriptive correlational study was conducted during May-August 2018 inShiraz, Iran. The target population included 112 caregivers who visited hospitals affiliated to ShirazUniversity of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Data collection instruments included a demographicinformation form, post-traumatic growth inventory, social support appraisals scale, and Millerhope scale. The data were analyzed using the SPSS software (version 23.0). Pstatistically significant.Results: The mean score for PTG, hope, and SS was 75.41±16.49, 190.95±24.20, and 89.10±12.84,respectively. A significant positive correlation was found between PTG and both SS (Pand hope (Prelationship between PTG, SS, and hope (Pcompared to SS (ẞ=0.27).Conclusion: The results showed a good level of PTG among the caregivers and the experience ofstressful situations positively affected their psychological condition. The positive change was associatedwith the perceived SS and hope.

Keywords

• cancer
• caregivers
• hope
• post-traumatic growth
• social support