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Factors influencing posttraumatic growth in ovarian cancer survivors

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine posttraumatic growth (PTG), cancer coping, posttraumatic stress, and genetics knowledge among ovarian cancer survivors and to identify factors affecting PTG.

Methods

This cross-sectional study included 148 outpatient ovarian cancer survivors at a cancer center. Data were collected between February 25 and April 11, 2019, and were analyzed using t tests, ANOVA, Pearson-correlations, and multiple regression.

Results

On average, the ovarian cancer survivors scored 68.09 ± 20.17 in PTG, 59.75 ± 13.37 in cancer coping, 29.30 ± 17.25 in posttraumatic stress, and 9.42 ± 3.33 in genetics knowledge. There were significant differences in PTG according to religion (t = − 2.92, p = .004), marital status (F = 3.06, p = .050), and family history of cancer (t = 2.00, p = .047). In the final analysis, the statistically significant factors influencing PTG were religion (β = .170, p = .004) and cancer coping (β = .691, p < .001), and posttraumatic stress had borderline statistical significance (β = − .107, p < .068). These factors explained 52.2% of the variance in PTG.

Conclusions

Ovarian cancer survivors showed a moderate level of genetics knowledge while having a high risk for posttraumatic stress. Overall, this study showed that cancer coping was a powerful factor that influenced PTG in ovarian cancer survivors. Religion was found to positively affect PTG, and posttraumatic stress had a small negative effect. Spiritual nursing interventions and improving cancer coping while reducing posttraumatic stress are necessary to increase the PTG of ovarian cancer survivors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nursing, National Cancer Center, Graduate School of Nursing and Health Professions, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea

    Jeong Min Oh

  2. Faculty of Red Cross College of Nursing, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-Ro, Dongjack-Gu, Seoul, 156-756, Republic of Korea

    Yoonjung Kim & Yeunhee Kwak

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  1. Jeong Min Oh
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  3. Yeunhee Kwak
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Contributions

Study design: Jeong Min Oh and Yeunhee Kwak; data collection: Jeong Min Oh; data analysis: Jeong Min Oh; manuscript preparation: Yoonjung Kim and Yeunhee Kwak. The authors contributed equally to this work.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yoonjung Kim.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval and consent to participate

The survey was administered to patients who signed a written consent form. For the ethical protection of the subjects, the study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the National Cancer Center in Korea (No. NCC2019-0023).

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Oh, J.M., Kim, Y. & Kwak, Y. Factors influencing posttraumatic growth in ovarian cancer survivors. Support Care Cancer 29, 2037–2045 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05704-6

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