Predictors of psychological responses of grief before the loss of health
Year: 2015
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Resilience is an important factor to consider when studying grief due to the loss of health. It not only helps the patient to be aware of his medical condition, but also it benefits the patient to become more psychologically and physically healthy. However, resilience has not been studied using Kübler-Ross’ theoretical framework. Therefore, we formulated the following research questions: How resilience can help the patient dealing with grief which is originated from the loss of health? How does resilience influence a patient’s grief response when other factors, such as spirituality, education, and economic status are taken into account? In order to answer these research questions, we studied the interaction between psychological grief responses of patients with regards to their resilience, socio-demographic variables, and spiritual background. A structural equation model was used to predict the psychological grief responses. This was carried out in a descriptive, correlational study using a cross-sectional non-experimental design, in a nonrandom sample of 120 Mexican women in cancer treatment. Two instruments were used: RDP-PS-38 and RESI-M. Our results show that resilience was more closely associated to the psychological grief response than other variables, such as socio-demographics and spirituality. The predictive model had good fit. The second order’s first factor (less negative reaction to the disease) was predicted by greater perceived family support, more frequent attendance at religious services, and higher family income. The second order’s second factor (positive attitude towards the disease based on religious beliefs) was predicted by greater social skills, higher rate of attendance at religious services, lower level of education, and lower family income. These two grief second order’s factors are independent from each other. We concluded that resilience is an important variable in the grieving process, with spirituality being an equally important variable, especially among women with lower income and lower educational attainment. We suggest working on these previous aspects within group dynamics in order to facilitate the grieving process among women dealing with cancer treatment.
Institution: Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2471406460