Posttraumatic Growth in Patients with Malignant Bone Tumor: Relationships with Psychological Adjustment

Aim: Owing to the inadequate data to support the valid instrument for assessing the positive changes among patients with malignant bone tumor, the present study was designed to provide such valid evidence through examining the psychometric properties of a Chinese version of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI-C) among these patients, and to evaluate the effects of posttraumatic growth on positive and negative symptoms in malignant bone tumor patients. Methods: Potential patients with malignant bone tumor from five tertiary hospitals were admitted to the hospital during the period from January 2013 to October 2017. At the baseline assessment (T1), all patients completed a demographic form, PTGI-C, and Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). After 4 weeks later (T2), all the patients finished PANAS and PTGI-C again, and the PTGI-C was re-administered to patients who were simple randomly selected from the total sample. Results: The PTGI-C exhibited moderate reliability and validity. The Cronbach’s α coefficient of the total scale was 0.91. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the five-factor model and the convergent validity results obtained were distinct but correlated. The multiple linear regression analyses showed that posttraumatic growth had a significant prediction on positive affect (F=16.445, p