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Association between self-disclosure and benefit finding of Chinese cancer patients caregivers: the mediation effect of coping styles

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Abstract

Purpose

To examine the relationship between self-disclosure, coping styles, and benefit finding (BF) among caregivers of cancer patients. The study also aimed to identify the factors influencing BF and the impact of coping styles on the relationship between self-disclosure and BF.

Methods

Convenience sampling was used to select 300 caregivers of cancer patients aged greater than 18 years from October 2022 to April 2023 in Chengdu, China. The demographic and clinical characteristics questionnaire, the Benefit Finding Scale (BFS), the Distress Disclosure Index Scale (DDI), and the Simple Coping Style Scale (SCSQ) for caregivers were included in this study. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson’s correlation analyses, and multiple linear regression models were used. The effect of mediation was tested by the PROCESS macro (Model 4) for SPSS 26.0 by Hayes using 5000 bootstrap samples.

Results

There were 292 valid questionnaires (effective response rate 97.33%). The total scores of BF, self-disclosure, negative coping style, and positive coping style of caregivers were 67.77 ± 14.78, 38.23 ± 8.59, 19.68 ± 5.98, and 9.88 ± 4.18, respectively; Pearson’s correlation analysis showed that BF was positively correlated with self-disclosure, positive coping, and negatively correlated with negative coping; multiple linear regression analysis showed that self-disclosure, positive coping, and negative coping were influential factors of BF. The results revealed that the effect of self-disclosure on BF was partly mediated by coping styles. It also confirmed that the mediation effect accounted for 54.03% of the total effect.

Conclusion

The BF of caregivers is at a moderate level. Self-disclosure may influence BF partly because of coping styles.

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Funding

This research is funded by the General Project of the Sichuan Applied Psychology Research Center of Chengdu Medical College in 2022 (grant no. CSXL-22211).

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Author notes

  1. Li LI, Hong-yue ZHONG, and Tian XIAO contributed equally to this work and are co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nursing, Chengdu Medical College, No. 601, Tianhui Rd, Rongdu St, Chengdu, 610083, Sichuan, China

    Li Li, Hong-yue Zhong, Tian Xiao, Rui-han Xiao, Jin Yang, Qian Yao & Xiao-ju Chen

  2. Department of Nursing, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, 610500, Sichuan, China

    Yan-li Li

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  1. Li Li
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Contributions

Li LI, Hongyue ZHONG, and Tian XIAO contributed equally to the manuscript and are co-first authors. All authors have agreed on the final version. Li LI, Xiaoju CHEN, and Hongyue ZHONG were responsible for conception and design; Li LI, Hongyue ZHONG, Jin YANG, Tian XIAO, Ruihan XIAO, Qian YAO, and Yanli LI made contributions to data collection; Li LI, Hongyue ZHONG involved in data analysis and drafting of the manuscript; Li LI and Tian XIAO performed the manuscript revision; Xiaoju CHEN was responsible for supervision and support of this study.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiao-ju Chen.

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This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of the Chengdu Medical College. The ethical approval number of the study is [(2022) 029].

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Li, L., Zhong, Hy., Xiao, T. et al. Association between self-disclosure and benefit finding of Chinese cancer patients caregivers: the mediation effect of coping styles. Support Care Cancer 31, 684 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-023-08158-8

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