Posttraumatic growth in long term breast cancer survivors: relation to coping, social support and cognitive processing.

Sophie Lelorain (1) , Philippe Tessier (2) , Agnès Florin (3) , Angélique Bonnaud-Antignac (2)

1 URECA - Unité de Recherche en Sciences Cognitives et Affectives
2 DMG Nantes - Département de médecine générale [Université de Nantes - UFR de Médecine et des Techniques Médicales]
3 LABéCD - Laboratoire de Psychologie Education, Cognition, Développement

Post-traumatic growth (PTG) has rarely been studied in long term breast cancer survivors using open interviews. In order to address the issue of how women integrate PTG in their overall cancer experience, 28 open interviews concerning changes after cancer were carried out with 5- to 15-year survivors. The analysis of results, performed using Alceste software, revealed one thematic class of PTG which was specific to women with high coping and social support and active cognitive processing. PTG theme appeared most often as a conclusion of interviews rather than in response to the question about changes after cancer.

Domaines: Psychologie

Sophie Lelorain, Philippe Tessier, Agnès Florin, Angélique Bonnaud-Antignac. Posttraumatic growth in long term breast cancer survivors: relation to coping, social support and cognitive processing.. Journal of Health Psychology, 2012, 17 (5), pp.627-39. ⟨10.1177/1359105311427475⟩. ⟨hal-00907816⟩