Existence of benefit finding and posttraumatic growth in people treated for head and neck cancer: a systematic review

Sam Harding; Fatimeh Sanipour; Timothy Moss

doi:10.7717/peerj.256

Existence of benefit finding and posttraumatic growth in people treated for head and neck cancer: a systematic review

PeerJ. 2014 Feb 11:2:e256. doi: 10.7717/peerj.256. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Sam Harding¹, Fatimeh Sanipour¹, Timothy Moss²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of the West of England , Bristol , United Kingdom.
² Centre for Appearance Research, University of the West of England , Bristol , United Kingdom.

Abstract

Background. The impact of head and neck cancer (HNC) in long-term survivors differs widely among individuals, and a significant number of them suffer from the negative effects of disease, whereas others report significant positive effect. This systematic review investigated the evidence the implications of treatment for HNC and subsequent development of Benefit Finding (BF) or Posttraumatic Growth (PTG). Purpose. To understand how differing medical, psychological and social characteristics of HNC may lead to BF/PTG and subsequently inform post-treatment interventions to encourage positive outcomes. Method. In February 2012, five databases including Pubmed, and Psych Info, were searched, for peer-reviewed English-language publications. Search strings included key words pertaining to HNC, BF, and PTG. One thousand three hundred and sixty three publications were identified, reviewed, and reduced following Cochrane guidelines and inclusion/exclusion criteria specified by a group of maxillofacial consultants and psychologists. Publications were then quality assessed using the CASP Cohort Critical Appraisal tool. Findings. Five manuscripts met the search and selection criteria, and were sourced for review. All studies were identified as being level IIb evidence which is a medium level of quality. The majority of studies investigated benefit finding (80%) and were split between recruiting participant via cancer clinics and postal survey. They focused on the medical, psychological and social characteristics of the patient following completion of treatment for HNC. Conclusion. Demographic factors across the papers showed similar patterns of relationships across BF and PTG; that higher education/qualification and cohabitation/marriage are associated with increased BF/PTG. Similarly, overlap with disease characteristics and psychosocial factors where hope and optimism were both positively correlated with increased reported BF/PTG.

Keywords: Benefit finding; Cancer; Head and neck; Posttraumatic growth; Posttraumatic growth inventory; Quality of life; Silver lining questionnaire; Systematic review.

Grants and funding

This manuscript was prepared as part of the self-funded Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology of the first author. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.