Relationships between satisfaction with life, posttraumatic growth, coping strategies, and resilience in cancer survivors : A network analysis approach

Abstract

Objective Cancer survivors' satisfaction with life should be seen through the psychological factors related to a person's capabilities to face and handle the situation. This study aimed to (1) examine the relationships of satisfaction with life, posttraumatic growth, resilience and coping strategies in a global network model, (2) find the bridge indicators between satisfaction with life and the other constructs, and (3) test for the invariance of the network structures across several moderating variables.

Methods In a heterogeneous sample of 696 cancer survivors (69% female; mean age = 53.1 ± 15.44 years; median time from being diagnosed = 4 years; breast cancer was the most frequent type of cancer) their satisfaction with life, resilience, coping strategies and posttraumatic growth was measured. In order to account for their complexity, the relationships between the constructs were explored using a network analysis approach.

Results The network analysis shows that satisfaction with life is strongly connected to resilience, moderately connected to coping strategies, and has a weak connection with posttraumatic growth. In the separate networks, the relationships between the psychological constructs were examined in greater detail. Besides some exceptions observed in the degree of disability, the networks were invariant across gender, age, years since being diagnosed, cancer type and treatment type.

Conclusion The findings suggest that interventions focused on cancer survivors' coping strategies and resilience could help increase their satisfaction with life. However, further replication of the proposed and/or modified model is needed.