Factors contributing to post-traumatic growth following breast cancer: Results from a randomized longitudinal clinical trial containing psychological interventions

The purpose of this study was to explore the factors influencing post-traumatic growth in breast cancer patients during 3 years after diagnosis. Our longitudinal study involved 71 medium and high-risk breast cancer patients, who received special attention and either hypnosis or music psychological intervention while receiving the same chemotherapy protocol. The influences of the interventions, as well as the demographic (age, marital status, and educational level) and psychosocial factors (coping, post-traumatic stress, and well-being), on post-traumatic growth were explored. The results showed that over 97% of our patients experienced post-traumatic growth. It was positively associated with Quality of Life domains 3 years after diagnosis, and with Psychological Immune Competence cumulative scores after treatment and 3 years after diagnosis. Psychological Immune Competence, emotional severity of post-traumatic stress symptoms, and the social support scale of Quality of Life explained 33.9% of the variance of post-traumatic growth. The results confirm that positive coping strategies, emotional severity of post-traumatic stress symptoms, and social support contribute to post-traumatic growth, and that post-traumatic growth has a weak to moderate association with quality of life.