Effects of Resilience and Emotion Regulation on Perceptions of Positive and Negative Life Changes in Cancer Survivors: A Longitudinal Study

Background While many studies have investigated the sociodemographic, clinical, and psychosocial factors associated with perceived positive change after cancer, longitudinal work examining how emotion regulation, and resilience impact perceptions of life change among newly diagnosed cancer survivors is lacking.Purpose This study examined the prevalence of perceived positive and negative life changes following cancer and explored the role of emotion regulation and resilience on perceived change over 6 months.Methods Data from 534 recent survivors of breast, prostate, or colorectal cancer (Mage = 59.3, 36.5% male) collected at baseline (Time 1) and 6-month follow-up (Time 2) were analyzed. Multivariate linear regressions were estimated separately to examine if resilience or emotion regulation were associated with perceived change at Time 2 after controlling for relevant sociodemographic and psychosocial measures.Results At both time points, greater than 90% of participants reported at least one perceived positive change while fewer than a third reported a negative change. Indices of emotion regulation and resilience were positively related to perceived positive change at both time points and negatively related to perceived negative change at Time 1. Emotion regulation but not resilience was negatively associated with perceived negative change at Time 2.Conclusions Findings suggest that cancer survivors who are less resilient and struggle with emotion regulation are more susceptible to perceptions of fewer positive and greater negative life changes after cancer. As such, psychosocial interventions should be developed to promote resilience and emotional regulation in cancer survivors. Disparate studies have examined the adverse consequences of cancer and its treatment, as well as perceived positive changes in different aspects of life following a cancer diagnosis. However, few studies have assessed both positive and negative perceived life changes concurrently over time or investigated whether resilience and emotion regulation influence perceived negative and positive changes. We analyzed prospective survey data from 534 recently diagnosed survivors of breast, prostate, or colorectal cancer collected at baseline assessment and 6-month follow-up. Reports of positive change were much more common than reports of negative change. Moreover, reports of positive change and negative change did not differ between the two assessment points. Cancer survivors with greater resilience and emotional approach coping at baseline reported more positive life changes 6 months later while those with low self-efficacy and higher emotion dysregulation at baseline reported more negative life changes 6 months later. These findings highlight self-efficacy, resilience, emotional approach coping, and emotional regulation abilities as modifiable factors that can be targeted by clinicians and therapists to decrease the likelihood of patient-perceived negative change and increase perceived positive change.