Operation Growth: The Impact of Heroes on the Water Kayak Fishing on Posttraumatic Growth in U.S. Military Veterans

Pandemic-related posttraumatic psychological growth in U.S. military veterans: A 3-year, nationally representative, longitudinal study

Posttraumatic Growth: Positive Changes in the Aftermath of Crisis

Background: A great number of people who have survived after stressful events experience positive psychological changes. These positive changes are recognized as posttraumatic growth. Objectives: The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between posttraumatic growth and meaning in life in patients with myocardial infarction. Methods: This is a descriptive correlational study conducted on 191 patients referring to the largest cardiology center (Bu-Ali Sina) in Qazvin, Iran. The sample was selected through a convenience sampling method based on the inclusion criteria. The data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, the posttraumatic growth inventory, and the meaning in life questionnaire. Data were analyzed with descriptive analysis. Inferential statistics (Pearson’s test) were used to evaluate the relationship between posttraumatic growth and meaning in life. Results: The sample included 49 (25.7%) women and 142 (74.3%) men with the mean age of 59.6 ± 1.2 years. The mean total score of posttraumatic growth was 64.6 ± 11.5 and the mean total score of meaning in life was 49 ± 6.04. Based on the results, there was a significant positive correlation between posttraumatic growth and meaning in life (r = 0.71, P < 0.001). Conclusions: The occurrence of myocardial infarction can lead to some positive psychological changes called posttraumatic growth. Nurses, informal caregivers, and policymakers can use these findings to help patients cope with challenging conditions after myocardial infarction.

The COVID-19 pandemic had forced intensive care unit (ICU) nurses to adapt to extreme conditions in a short period of time. This resulted in them experiencing extremely stressful situations. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between post-traumatic growth (PTG) and religiosity and spirituality (R/S) among nurses caring for COVID-19 patients in intensive care during the pandemic. 120 nurses working in Lublin, eastern Poland, participated in the cross-sectional study. The questionnaire was made up of three standardised tools: The Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory, The Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire, The Spiritual Attitude and Involvement List. In terms of spirituality, the study group of nurses achieved the highest score in the Connectedness with Nature subscale (4.37 ± 1.07), while the strength of religious beliefs had a positive correlation with post-traumatic growth only in the Spiritual changes subscale (r = 0.422, p < 0.001). The following dimensions of spirituality were significantly correlated with post-traumatic growth in the multi-factor model that included religiosity and spirituality: Transcendent experiences, Spiritual activities, Meaningfulness, Acceptance, and Trust. We saw that increase in the assessment of the Transcendent experiences, Meaningfulness and Trust subscales significantly mirrors increase in post-traumatic growth, while increase in the assessment of the Spiritual activities and Acceptance subscales significantly mirrors decrease in post-traumatic growth. The above variables explained up to 44% of the dependent variable. Both religiosity and spirituality were significantly associated with post-traumatic growth in the group of ICU nurses, but spirituality appears to have played a larger role. Our findings support the value and significance of the development of spiritual and religious identity as a means of enhancing positive psychological changes in the face of traumatic events.

Post-traumatic growth and its influencing factors among Chinese women diagnosed with gynecological cancer: A cross-sectional study.

Posttraumatic growth (PTG) refers to positive psychological changes resulting from individuals' inner struggles with traumatic events such as life-threatening illness. Although palliative care patients are confronted with their own mortality, little is known about their PTG experience. This study investigates whether PTG is an empirically relevant concept for palliative patients by assessing the prevalence and areas of growth, and examining associations with psychological distress and quality of life. Participants were recruited in Switzerland. Using validated questionnaires, we assessed PTG (Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, PTGI), psychological distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), and quality of life (McGill-Quality of Life Questionnaire - Revised). We performed descriptive analyses, Spearman correlations, and linear regressions. Fifty-five patients completed the PTGI, 44% of whom experienced no/low growth, 47% moderate growth, and 9% high/very high growth. Participants experienced the greatest positive changes in terms of appreciating life and relating to others. We found significant negative bivariate correlations between PTG and psychological distress (r = -0.33) and between PTG and depression (r = -0.47). Linear regressions showed that PTG is associated with depression (β = -0.468; p = 0.000), but not with anxiety or quality of life (adjusted R2 = 0.219). Over half of our patients experienced moderate to very high growth, indicating that PTG is an empirically relevant psychological process in palliative care. PTG is associated with lower levels of depression, possibly as those experiencing growth are more able to process past traumas and build a more positive outlook on one's life and self. By contrast, the relative independence of anxiety and PTG points to the likely coexistence of positive and negative psychological responses to trauma. The lack of association between PTG and quality of life points to the uniqueness of the PTG concept in capturing how people access deeper meaning and greater appreciation of life along the path toward posttraumatic self-reconstruction.

Personally important posttraumatic growth in adolescents: The effect on self-esteem beyond commonly defined posttraumatic growth

Aim:The study investigates and analyzes the relationship among the concepts of demoralization, posttraumatic growth, and self-care ability in patients undergoing hemodialysis.Methods:The cross-sectional descriptive correlational study was conducted in 2017 on 150 hemodialysis patients selected through census in Buali Hospital, Ardabil, Iran. Demoralization scale, the posttraumatic growth inventory, and self-care questionnaire were used for cross-sectional data collection. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficient.Results:The mean and standard deviation of demoralization, posttraumatic growth, and self-care were 36.25 ± 18.84, 63.17 ± 17.71, and 33.89 ± 6.40, respectively. Self-care ability was positively associated with posttraumatic growth (r = 0.287) and negatively related to demoralization (r = −0.168). Self-care ability was also found to be desirable in 84.7% of the patients.Conclusions:Hemodialysis patients can experience both positive and negative psychological changes. Self-care ability is associated with reductions in negative psychological problems and increases in positive psychological changes. Health-care providers can, therefore, help hemodialysis patients to improve their psychological conditions by making plans for improving self-care abilities.

The diagnosis and treatment of cancer triggers not only a negative psychological response for the patient, but also a positive psychological outcome. Positive dyadic coping, as a form of coping for mental health outcomes, can maintain or reestablish internal stability between the patient and his or her spouse, resulting in positive physical and psychological changes. However, there is a paucity of research on body image, dyadic coping, and post-traumatic growth in breast cancer patients. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship and pathways between body image, dyadic coping, and post-traumatic growth in breast cancer patients. A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2022 to November 2023 at a tertiary care hospital in Wuxi, Jiangsu, China. This study was conducted among 154 breast cancer patients treated at the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University, all of whom completed demographic and clinical information questionnaires, Body image self-rating questionnaire for breast cancer (BISQ-BC), Dyadic Coping Inventory (DCI) and Post Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI). A Pearson correlation analysis was used to explore the relationship between body image, dyadic coping, and post-traumatic growth. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the path relationships among the three and to explore the mediating role of dyadic coping. The level of body image was negatively correlated with post-traumatic growth (r = -0.462, p < 0.01); and the level of body image was negatively correlated with dyadic coping (r = -0.308, p < 0.01). And dyadic coping was positively associated with post-traumatic growth (r = 0.464, p < 0.01). The structural equation modeling results supported the mediation model with the following model fit indices, chi-square to degrees of freedom ratio (χ2/df = 2.05), goodness of fit index (GFI = 0.93), comparative fit index (CFI = 0.99), canonical fit index (NFI = 0.93), incremental fit index (IFI = 0.99), non-canonical fit index (TLI = 0.99) and the root mean square of the difference in approximation error (RMSEA = 0.03). Body image and dyadic coping directly affected post-traumatic growth (β = -0.33, p < 0.05; β = 0.43, p < 0.05). And body image indirectly influenced post-traumatic growth through dyadic coping (β = -0.17, p < 0.05). Interconnections between body image, dyadic coping, and post-traumatic growth in breast cancer patients. A preliminary validation of the mediating role of dyadic coping between body image and post-traumatic growth, body image can have an impact on dyadic coping, which in turn can have an impact on post-traumatic growth. Whereby higher levels of dyadic coping in patients may also be associated with higher levels of post-traumatic growth, whereas body image disturbance may impede levels of post-traumatic growth.

The challenge of a cancer diagnosis may eventually lead to the experience of positive psychological changes, also referred to as posttraumatic growth. As most research on posttraumatic growth in cancer patients has been conducted in Western countries, little is known about the experience of such positive psychological changes in non-Western countries. Therefore, the purpose of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the prevalence of posttraumatic growth in a Malaysian sample of cancer patients. Secondly, we examined the association of posttraumatic growth with patients' report of psychological distress and their use of coping strategies. The study was conducted in 113 cancer patients. Posttraumatic growth was measured by the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, coping strategies by the brief COPE, and psychological distress by the Symptom Check List (SCL-90-R). Results showed that many patients reported posttraumatic growth, mostly in the domain of appreciation of life. As hypothesized, the experience of posttraumatic growth was not significantly related to the level of psychological distress. Findings indicated that greater use of the coping strategies instrumental support, positive reframing, and humor was associated with more posttraumatic growth. Overall, this study suggests that posttraumatic growth is not only a Western phenomenon. Malaysian cancer patients show similar trends in the report of growth as well as in its correlates as their Western counterparts.

Posttraumatic growth,the positive psychological changes experienced following stressful events, may serve as a protective factor in adolescents against decreased self-esteem resulting from a stressful experience. Because posttraumatic growth is a value-laden concept, there could be individual and cross-cultural differences in the importance of different contents of posttraumatic growth experiences. This study examined whether personally important posttraumatic growth and family-valued posttraumatic growth affects self- esteem in the same way across American and Japanese adolescents. High school students (age range 15–18 years) from the US (n = 118) and Japan (n = 138) who experienced a stressful event within the past three years completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, and reported which items on the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory are personally important and which items they believe their family would want them to experience. Results indicated that personally important posttraumatic growth is significantly related to self-esteem only in American adolescents. However, experiencing posttraumatic growth in ways that adolescents feel their family would want them to experience was a significantly associated with self-esteem across both American and Japanese adolescents. These results indicate that adolescents’ self- esteem is likely to be attained despite stressful events when their posttraumatic growth experiences align with their perceptions of their families’ values. This study demonstrates how adolescents’ perceptions of their families values play an active role in their adjustment post stressful experiences in not just collectivistic cultures like Japan, but in individualistic cultures such as the U.S. clinicians should pay attention to the individual differences in the value of posttraumatic growth when developing intervention programs.

Surviving childhood cancer may result in positive psychological changes called posttraumatic growth (PTG). Knowing about the possibility of positive changes may facilitate survivors' reintegration in daily life. We aimed to (1) describe PTG in Swiss childhood cancer survivors including the most and the least common PTG phenomena on the subscale and item levels and (2) determine factors associated with PTG. Within the Swiss Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (SCCSS), we sent two questionnaires to childhood cancer survivors registered in the Swiss Childhood Cancer Registry (SCCR). Eligible survivors were diagnosed after 1990 at age ≤16 years, survived ≥5 years, and were aged ≥18 years at the time the second questionnaire was sent. We included the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) to assess five areas of PTG. We investigated the association of PTG with socio-demographic characteristics, self-reported late effects, and psychological distress, which were assessed in the SCCSS and clinical variables extracted from the SCCR. We used descriptive statistics to describe PTG and linear regressions to investigate factors associated with PTG. We assessed PTG in 309 childhood cancer survivors. Most individuals reported to have experienced some PTG. The most endorsed change occurred in "relation with others," the least in "spiritual change." PTG was significantly higher in survivors with older age at diagnosis (p = 0.001) and those with a longer duration of treatment (p = 0.042), while it was lower in male survivors (p = 0.003). Supporting experiences of PTG during follow-up may help survivors successfully return to daily life.

Recent studies indicate that cross-cultural differences exist in posttraumatic growth (i.e., positive psychological changes as a result of struggling with a highly stressful life event). This study examined how the experiences and perceived indicators of posttraumatic growth varied between American and Japanese men. Based on the posttraumatic growth (PTG) theoretical model, it was hypothesized that American men would report higher PTG than Japanese men, and PTG would vary by the type of event experienced. In addition, this study tested the hypothesis that some indicators of change would be rated as more representative of growth in American men than in Japanese men. American and Japanese men completed the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) based on their most stressful experience from the past five years and rated how each of the items in the PTGI was indicative of personal growth by using the modified PTGI. Results indicated that American men scored higher on the total PTGI and on three out of five domains of PTG. PTGI scores also varied by the type of event experienced. In the appreciation of life domain of the PTGI, for example, those who lost a loved one reported higher growth than those who experienced injury or severe illness and those who experienced financial or academic problems. PTGI items and domains that were considered to be most indicative of growth differed between American and Japanese men. Suggestions for future research and the potential implications of attending to differences in perceived indicators of PTG are considered.

Adolescents’ posttraumatic growth during the COVID-19 pandemic: The links between differentiation of self, parents’ posttraumatic growth, and adolescents’ gender

ABSTRACTBackground:Cancer not only is a traumatic experience for the patients, but also can affect the family caregivers. Post-traumatic growth (PTG) refers to positive psychological changes experienced by people as a result of a struggle in dealing with traumatic events in life. Both the patients and their caregivers may experience PTG. The present study aimed to assess the extent of PTG in caregivers of patients with gastrointestinal cancer and to examine the relationship between the PTG dimensions and both the social support (SS) and hope.Methods: The present descriptive correlational study was conducted during May-August 2018 in Shiraz, Iran. The target population included 112 caregivers who visited hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Data collection instruments included a demographic information form, post-traumatic growth inventory, social support appraisals scale, and Miller hope scale. The data were analyzed using the SPSS software (version 23.0). P<0.05 was considered statistically 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 (P<0.001, r=0.59) and hope (P<0.001, r=0.70). The results of the multiple regression analysis showed a significant relationship between PTG, SS, and hope (P<0.001). Hope had a higher effect on PTG (ẞ=0.62) compared to SS (ẞ=0.27).Conclusion:The results showed a good level of PTG among the caregivers and the experience of stressful situations positively affected their psychological condition. The positive change was associated with the perceived SS and hope.