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Resilience In Cancer Patients, Lori A. Gardner

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

The phenomenon of resilience has long been identified as a key talking point within the realm of overall mental health, but the concept’s specific meaning, qualities, and sources remain somewhat elusive. For those with chronic health conditions, resilience is often identified as essential to coping effectively with significant disruptions to daily activities. The purpose of this study was to better understand the concept of resilience and to determine themes that underlie resilience, specifically within a cancer patient population. This goal was addressed by using a qualitative approach to elicit commonalities among the experiences of cancer patients representing varying types and …

Implementation Of Screening And Outcome Measures At A Cancer Specific Mental Health Clinic, Hannah Katz

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

There is limited research examining the overall distress levels of cancer patients and caregivers longitudinally, as well as how to best implement distress surveys into a general community clinic. This study had two aims: (1) To implement surveys in a community-based clinic that serves cancer patients and their family members; and (2) To gain an understanding of the outcome of psychotherapy. The study included 15 participants—eight patients and seven student therapists—over a five-month period in the Center for Oncology Psychology clinic. Patients and therapists were matched in dyads. Surveys were provided to patients at three time points. Additionally, an outcome …

Posttraumatic Growth Following Cancer: The Role Of Cognitive Processing, Anxiety, Depression And Perceived Threat, Jennifer M. Caspari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explored several predictors of posttraumatic growth (PTG) in a sample of 169 breast, prostate and colorectal cancer survivors. The first aim was to determine the influence of Anxiety, Depression and Perceived Threat (defined as the combination of Life Outlook Threat, i.e., the degree a cancer diagnosis challenged a survivor's assumptive world, and Physical Threat, i.e., threat to mortality and physical well-being) in the prediction of Positive and Negative Cognitive Processing. The second aim was to examine the effect of Anxiety, Depression, Perceived Threat, and Positive and Negative Cognitive Processing in the predication of PTG.

Cancer survivors who were …