No Pain, No Gain: Bridging the Gap from Basic Science to Practice in Cancer Stress and Growth Research Among Cancer Patients, Survivors, and their Family Caregivers

摘要

Cancer is a major stress to the patients and their family members, yet it also helps them experience personal growth. Many unanswered questions remain, including whether cancer-related stress and post-traumatic growth (PTG) or benefit finding (BF) can be seen in non-self-reports, across different phases of survivorship, in diverse cancer types, and in both patients and family caregivers. This symposium addresses these questions. Focusing the early survivorship, one study examining family caregivers of colorectal cancer patients found that cancer-related stress related to poorer neuroendocrine functioning, whereas PTG/BF related to better neuroendocrine functioning, especially among older caregivers.