ABSTRACT
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.968154.].
ABSTRACT
Background: Breast cancer patients and their families are under various pressures in the process of disease diagnosis and treatment, which seriously threaten their physical and mental health. Findings from existing research suggest that good family resilience can help breast cancer families better adapt and cope with adversity and challenges. However, there are only a few intervention studies on family resilience and no intervention studies on resilience among the families of breast cancer patients. Therefore, this study aims to explore appropriate measures to improve the resilience level of breast cancer families and help them better cope with the disease. Objective: The purpose of this study protocol is to demonstrate a coping-focused family resilience intervention to increase the level of resilience in the families of breast cancer patients and help them better cope with adversity. Methods: The trial will recruit 80 breast cancer families and randomly assign them to experimental and control groups in a 1:1 ratio. The control group will receive routine care, and the intervention group will receive a 6-week one-on-one online family resilience intervention based on the control group. Two groups of subjects will be assessed at baseline and at 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months after the intervention. The primary outcome is family resilience, and the secondary outcomes are coping style, social support, family disease burden, and levels of anxiety and depression. Expected results: We hypothesized that after the intervention, the intervention group would have significantly higher levels of family resilience than the preintervention and control groups. In the intervention group, other aspects related to family resilience, such as family disease burden and anxiety and depression levels of patients and their families, were significantly alleviated, and disease coping and social support levels were improved accordingly. Discussion: If the program works, it can help breast cancer families identify family strengths and resources to proactively address challenges so that families can successfully navigate the crisis and patient and family recovery can be facilitated. It can also provide a practical path for clinical workers to help breast cancer families adjust rationally. Clinical Trial Registration: This study has been registered in the Chinese Clinical Trials Registry (Registration Number: http://www.chictr.org.cn/ChiCTR2100052108).
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: This study aimed to examine the impact of family resilience on the individual resilience of couples during cancer and explore the potential mediating role of perceived social support and the moderating role of sex in this association in cancer patient-spouse dyads. METHOD: The participants were 272 cancer patients and their spouses (N = 544) who completed the Family Resilience Assessment Scale, the Perceived Social Support Scale and the Resilience Scale. We adopted the actor-partner interdependence mediation model to examine whether and how patients' and their spouses' family resilience was associated with their own and their partners' perceived social support and individual resilience. RESULTS: The results indicated that the patients' and their spouses' level of family resilience was positively associated with their own individual resilience directly and indirectly by increasing their own perceived social support. The family resilience of the spouses was associated with an increase in the patients' individual resilience only indirectly by increasing the patients' perceived social support. The spouse-actor effects between family resilience and individual resilience differed significantly by sex. CONCLUSION: Enhancing family resilience and perceived social support within the family can improve individual resilience. The findings regarding the sex differences serve as a rationale for gender-based approaches to improving individual resilience in the family context.
