Posttraumatic growth among cancer patients in India.

Cancer patients sometimes report positive life changes in addition to more harrowing ones. Theoretically, several cognitive processes are thought to contribute to posttraumatic growth, but few studies have examined these relationships empirically among cancer patients. Moreover, most research has been conducted in western developed countries. This preliminary study offered a novel examination of posttraumatic growth and its cognitive correlates among cancer patients in western India. As hypothesized, in bivariate analyses perceived growth was significantly associated with greater meaning-focused coping (sense-making, benefit-finding), and with reappraisal of worldviews. Growth was not related to subjective appraisals regarding illness threat or stressfulness. In multivariate analyses, reappraisal of worldviews was the strongest concurrent predictor of posttraumatic growth. Results suggest that deliberative cognitive processes merit further study.