Exploring the Relationships between Posttraumatic Growth, Wisdom, and Quality of Life in Older Cancer Survivors

Document Type : Research Articles

Authors

1 Department of Nursing, Kyungnam University, Changwon, South-Korea.

2 College of Nursing and Institute of Health Sciences, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, South-Korea.

Abstract

Objective: The number of older cancer survivors is steadily rising with a growing aging population, and a great
interest in evaluating the quality of life is emerged. Although understanding how to improve the quality of life in
older cancer survivors is critical as the number of older survivors continues to grow in communities, little is known
about empirical evidence regarding predictors of the quality of life in older cancer survivors. This study aimed to
examine relationships between posttraumatic growth, wisdom, and quality of life in older cancer survivors. Methods:
A convenience sample of older cancer survivors after completing cancer treatments (n=121) participated from one
public health center, and they filled out self-report questionnaires on measures of posttraumatic growth, wisdom, and
quality of life. Results: As results of multiple regression analysis, the most significant factor on each domain of the
quality of life has shown that higher levels of subjective economic status were associated with significant improvement of
four domains of quality of life, and wisdom and posttraumatic growth were associated with significant improvement in
social/family well-being. Conclusion: This study highlights predictors of each domain of quality of life that subjective
economic status, posttraumatic growth and wisdom significantly affected the quality of life in older cancer survivors.
Findings indicate that psychological interventions need to be developed and implemented for older cancer survivors
to prevent long-term effects of cancer and to increase their quality of life. For improving their quality of life, primary
care providers or community health professionals need to develop tailored interventions, such as home-based cancer
survivorship programs.

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