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The relationship between meaning discrepancy and emotional distress among patients with cancer: the role of posttraumatic growth in a collectivistic culture
Author(s) -
Li W.J.,
Miao M.,
Gan Y.Q.,
Zhang Z.J.,
Cheng G.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
european journal of cancer care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1365-2354
pISSN - 0961-5423
DOI - 10.1111/ecc.12298
Subject(s) - posttraumatic growth , moderation , anxiety , collectivism , clinical psychology , meaning (existential) , depression (economics) , medicine , mediation , mental health , structural equation modeling , distress , death anxiety , moderated mediation , emotional distress , psychology , psychiatry , psychotherapist , social psychology , statistics , mathematics , individualism , political science , law , economics , macroeconomics
The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between meaning discrepancy and emotional distress (i.e. anxiety and depression) among patients with cancer in a collectivistic culture, and to explore the stress‐buffering effect of posttraumatic growth on this relationship. We collected data from 198 patients with cancer who completed questionnaires measuring meaning discrepancy, posttraumatic growth, anxiety and depression. Correlation analyses indicated that meaning discrepancy positively correlated with anxiety ( r = 0.477, P < 0.01) and depression ( r = 0.452, P < 0.01). Three structural equation models were built to compare competing hypotheses. Results showed that the moderation model fits the data better than the mediation and independence models ( χ 2 / df = 1.31, RMSEA = 0.040, CFI = 0.98, GFI = 0.92). The present study demonstrated a positive association between meaning discrepancy and anxiety/depression, and a protective effect of posttraumatic growth on mental health by buffering traumatic stress. The study has clinical implications for the medical practice of oncology; doctors, nurses, relatives and counsellors should attend to the psychological care of patients with cancer by exploring their meaning discrepancy, and promoting the use of posttraumatic growth as a psychological resource to buffer the anxiety and depression of patients with cancer.