A Comparative Analysis of Social Support, Resilience, Life Satisfaction, and Posttraumatic Growth among Cancer Patients, Individuals with Chronic Illness, and Healthy Adults

Description

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19690043

Madhuri Rathi¹, Atreyee Bhattacharyya², and Debatree Mukherjee³
(Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences, Amity University Kolkata, West Bengal^1,2 and Barrackpore Rastraguru Surendranath College, University of Calcutta, West Bengal³)

The current study compared perceived social support, resilience, life satisfaction, and posttraumatic growth among cancer patients, individuals with chronic non-malignant illnesses, and healthy adults. Our study explored significant mean differences for illness types and main demographic factors, including parental status, sibling presence, and marital status, as well as their interactions with illness type, to find variations in psychosocial resources across health conditions. There were 429 adults aged who were purposively recruited from clinics in Kolkata and surrounding suburban areas, age range 18-60, it includes149 cancer patients, 168 patients with chronic illnesses, and 112 healthy people without any known diagnosis. Data was collected from individuals with informed consent, and standardized psychological scales were used. Comparative analyses showed that Illness type showed significant effects on perceived life satisfaction, personal strength, new possibilities, and spiritual influence, while the presence of siblings was significantly associated with new possibilities and several resilience dimensions. Further sibling and illness type interactions showed effects on life satisfaction, spiritual growth, and multiple resilience. Similarly, the presence of children significantly influenced perceived social support from friends, improved relationships, and resilience, while illness type significantly affected life satisfaction, resilience components, and several PTG domains. The interaction effects between children and illness type for perceived social support and multiple resilience dimensions were significant. Marital status showed significant effects on perceived social support, PTG domains, and resilience. Family support was affected by illness type. Marital status and illness type interactions were significant for perceived social support, positive acceptance, new possibilities, and spiritual influence.