Indian Journal of Positive Psychology

Komal Chandiramani ¹, Waheeda Khan ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, IN

Abstract

Post Traumatic Growth (PTG) and Subjective Well Being (SWB) play a very important role in evaluating a person's experience as cancer patients. The present study was designed to compare and examine the relationship between PTG and SWB among stage I and stage II breast cancer patients. For this, a sample of 60 patients was taken (30 in each group) from hospitals of Delhi and was administered Post Traumatic Growth Inventory and Subjective Well Being Inventory. Group differences were evaluated using t test. Results indicated that stage II breast cancer patients were significantly higher on overall PTG and its dimensions of new possibility, appreciation to life and spiritual change. The similar trend was observed with respect to overall SWB and its dimensions i.e. well being-positive affect, transcendence, social support, perceived ill health, deficiency in social contacts, well being-negative affect. Moreover, stage II patients indicated more significant positive relations between two constructs as compared to stage I patients. It was concluded that both are important constructs in evaluating positive change in cancer patients. Future research should focus on interventions that would be beneficial for stage I and II breast cancer patients and should also incorporate qualitative aspects of the cancer diagnosis.

Keywords

Brest Cancer, Post Traumatic Growth, Subjective Well Being

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Komal Chandiramani ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, IN

Abstract

Trauma is one of the most significant and unavoidable outcomes of a violent conflict. One such trauma in a conflict zone that may have multiple impacts on the mental, social and emotional functioning of the individual is sexual abuse. Sexual abuse is an abuse of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Following a trauma such as sexual assault, an individual is confronted with extreme stress that requires coping with a new, unexpected, and unfamiliar situation. Positive psychological changes like resilience and spirituality help the rape victim to redefine self. So, the objective of the present study was to compare sexually abused victims and non abused individuals on the measures of resilience with its subtypes, spirituality and to examine their relationship. It was hypothesized that there would be a significant relation among the measures of resilient with its subtypes and spirituality among female trauma victims with sexual assault and non-abused individuals. The sample consisted of 60 adult females out of which 30 were sexually abused and rest 30 did not report any incident of sexual abuse. The Spirituality and Resilience Assessment Packet by Kass (2000) was administered on both the groups and a two group design was incorporated to meet the objectives. The results revealed significant difference between the two groups indicating that the mean scores of sexually abused group were higher as compared to non abused group. Also significant correlations were found between the various types of resilience and spirituality indicating difference between means for both the groups. Hence, it can be concluded that an increase in these factors were associated with increases in self-reported positive life changes over time. Further research on related topics, based on the findings of the present and other studies, will undoubtedly advance our understanding of the positive psychological changes following sexual abuse.

Keywords

Resilience, Sexual Abuse, Spirituality

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