Relationship between loneliness and post-traumatic growth in patients with gynecologic malignancies: the mediating role of self-disclosure and psychological resilience

Abstract

BackgroundTo explore the relationship between loneliness and post-traumatic growth, with a focus on the mediating role of psychological resilience and self-disclosure.MethodsThis study was a cross-sectional survey using the Loneliness Scale for Cancer Patients, the Distress Expression Index Scale (for measuring self-disclosure), the Psychological Resilience Scale, and the Posttraumatic Growth Scale on 215 inpatients with gynecologic malignancies at a tertiary care hospital in Guangzhou. Subsequently, Correlation, regression, and mediation analyses were performed using SPSS to test the relationships between the variables.ResultsThe results showed that loneliness was negatively correlated with posttraumatic growth (r = -0.261, P < 0.001), self-disclosure was positively correlated with posttraumatic growth (r = 0.360, P < 0.001), and psychological resilience was positively correlated with posttraumatic growth (r = 0.475, P < 0.001); loneliness was correlated with self-disclosure (r = -0.194, P < 0.01), loneliness was negatively correlated with psychological resilience (r = -0.287, P < 0.001), self-disclosure was correlated with psychological resilience (r = 0.287, P < 0.001); loneliness was significantly correlated with self-disclosure (r = -0.314, P < 0.001); loneliness was not a direct predictor of posttraumatic growth (β = -0.108, t = 1.734, P > 0.05), but could influence posttraumatic growth through the mediated effect of self-disclosure and psychological resilience, where the total indirect effect of self-disclosure and psychological resilience was − 0.155 (95% CI: -0.236, -0.081, P < 0.001).ConclusionsThe mechanism of loneliness on post-traumatic growth in patients with gynecologic malignancies is mainly through the indirect effect of self-disclosure and the indirect impact of psychological resilience. Great attention should be paid to patients’ loneliness, to find factors promoting patients’ self-disclosure, to improve the level of patients’ psychological resilience, and promote post-traumatic growth of gynecologic malignant tumors.