Psychosocial determinants of post-traumatic stress among cancer survivors
type: CreativeWork
description: Cancer survivors can experience a number of consequences of their disease, both physical and psychological. In this thesis, I aimed to clarify the psychosocial processes that reduce or increase post-traumatic stress after cancer. “Social support,” for instance, has often been linked to post-traumatic stress, but I describe several problems with this concept. Alternatively, inspired by the Social Identity Approach (SIA) to health, I proposed that group identification, or a sense of belonging and commonality with social groups, might predict levels of post-traumatic stress after cancer. In line with Social Cognitive Processing Theory (SCPT), I also proposed that cancer survivors’ perceptions that members of their social groups are closed, judgmental, and unreceptive in conversations about cancer (“group constraints”) might predict post-traumatic stress. I proposed that these constructs might act in tandem to predict levels of post-traumatic stress. To begin my programme of research, I conducted a meta-analysis that established factors contributing to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I also found an increased prevalence of PTSD among cancer survivors compared to controls without cancer. This meta-analysis demonstrated that cancer survivors can experience PTSD related to their illness. Subsequently, I undertook a series of quantitative questionnaire studies to establish psychosocial determinants of post-traumatic stress. My questionnaire included scales measuring post-traumatic stress, social support, group identification, and group constraints. In a pilot study, I used convenience sampling to test out the acceptability of the questionnaire and to provide a foundation for further hypothesising. Then, I distributed this piloted questionnaire to colorectal cancer survivors in Tayside. In initial “wave 1” cross-sectional analyses of this data, I found that social support was not an independent predictor of post-traumatic stress in multivariate analyses. However, grou…
abstract: Cancer survivors can experience a number of consequences of their disease, both physical and psychological. In this thesis, I aimed to clarify the psychosocial processes that reduce or increase post-traumatic stress after cancer. “Social support,” for instance, has often been linked to post-traumatic stress, but I describe several problems with this concept. Alternatively, inspired by the Social Identity Approach (SIA) to health, I proposed that group identification, or a sense of belonging and commonality with social groups, might predict levels of post-traumatic stress after cancer. In line with Social Cognitive Processing Theory (SCPT), I also proposed that cancer survivors’ perceptions that members of their social groups are closed, judgmental, and unreceptive in conversations about cancer (“group constraints”) might predict post-traumatic stress. I proposed that these constructs might act in tandem to predict levels of post-traumatic stress. To begin my programme of research, I conducted a meta-analysis that established factors contributing to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I also found an increased prevalence of PTSD among cancer survivors compared to controls without cancer. This meta-analysis demonstrated that cancer survivors can experience PTSD related to their illness. Subsequently, I undertook a series of quantitative questionnaire studies to establish psychosocial determinants of post-traumatic stress. My questionnaire included scales measuring post-traumatic stress, social support, group identification, and group constraints. In a pilot study, I used convenience sampling to test out the acceptability of the questionnaire and to provide a foundation for further hypothesising. Then, I distributed this piloted questionnaire to colorectal cancer survivors in Tayside. In initial “wave 1” cross-sectional analyses of this data, I found that social support was not an independent predictor of post-traumatic stress in multivariate analyses. However, grou…
author: Swartzman, Samantha
language: eng
date published: 2017
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:08:32Z
provider: University of Dundee
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Dundee