The Relationship between Post-traumatic Stress and Post-traumatic Growth in Cancer Patients and Survivors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
A partir d'une revue systématique de la littérature publiée jusqu'en avril 2019 (51 études), cette méta-analyse évalue l'association entre un stress post-traumatique et la croissance post-traumatique chez des patients atteints d'un cancer ou ayant survécu à la maladie
Résumé en anglais
Objective : Research on the relationship between Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)/Post-traumatic Stress Symptoms (PTSS) and Post-traumatic Growth (PTG) in cancer patients and survivors is increasing.
Method : We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 51 studies that assessed the relationship between PTSD/PTSS and PTG, in cancer patients/survivors. Five databases were searched through April 29, 2019. The purpose of this manuscript is to report: a summary of this literature, the aggregate effect size of the relationship between PTSD and PTG, and the examination of potential moderators that may impact the relationship between PTSD and PTG.
Results : The aggregate weighted effect size for the association between PTSD/PTSS and PTG was small, r = .08, but significantly different from zero. We examined whether: time since diagnosis, stage of cancer, type of measure used to assess PTSD/PTSS, or type of measure used to assess PTG explained the significant heterogeneity among the individual effect sizes. The relationship was significantly stronger for the small subset of studies that included only stage 4 patients compared to those that included only non-stage 4 patients. Additionally, the strongest relationship was for those studies that used the Impact of Events Scale-Revised to assess PTSD.
Conclusions : The relationship between PTSD/PTSD and PTG is modestly positive and robust. There is evidence that the threat of advanced cancer is more strongly associated with growth, but none supporting that more time since cancer diagnosis allows survivors the opportunity to positively reinterpret and find meaning in the traumatic aspects of the disease resulting in more growth. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
