TY - JOUR
T1 - Intrusive thoughts and psychological distress among breast cancer survivors
T2 - Global meaning as a possible protective factor
AU - Vickberg, Suzanne M.Johnson
AU - Bovbjerg, Dana H.
AU - DuHamel, Katherine N.
AU - Currie, Violante
AU - Redd, William H.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by Grant CA66227 from the National Cancer Institute. Portions of these data were presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Behavioral Medicine, March 1999, San Diego, CA. We thank Dorothy Parks for her supporting role in all aspects of our work.
PY - 2000
Y1 - 2000
N2 - Previous research has consistently demonstrated a positive association between intrusive thoughts about stressful experiences and psychological distress. The strength of this relation, however, has varied considerably across studies. To examine the possibility that an individual's sense of global meaning (ie, the existential belief that one's life has purpose and order) may moderate the relation between intrusive thoughts and psychological distress, the authors conducted telephone assessments of 61 women who had survived breast cancer. Results confirmed that the frequency of intrusive thoughts was positively related to psychological distress. Global meaning, moreover, moderated the relation between intrusive thoughts and psychological distress consistent with the authors' hypotheses. Among women with lower global meaning, more frequent intrusive thoughts were associated with higher psychological distress. No association was found between intrusive thoughts and psychological distress among those participants with higher global meaning.
AB - Previous research has consistently demonstrated a positive association between intrusive thoughts about stressful experiences and psychological distress. The strength of this relation, however, has varied considerably across studies. To examine the possibility that an individual's sense of global meaning (ie, the existential belief that one's life has purpose and order) may moderate the relation between intrusive thoughts and psychological distress, the authors conducted telephone assessments of 61 women who had survived breast cancer. Results confirmed that the frequency of intrusive thoughts was positively related to psychological distress. Global meaning, moreover, moderated the relation between intrusive thoughts and psychological distress consistent with the authors' hypotheses. Among women with lower global meaning, more frequent intrusive thoughts were associated with higher psychological distress. No association was found between intrusive thoughts and psychological distress among those participants with higher global meaning.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0342369004&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/08964280009595744
DO - 10.1080/08964280009595744
M3 - Article
C2 - 10789021
AN - SCOPUS:0342369004
SN - 0896-4289
VL - 25
SP - 152
EP - 160
JO - Behavioral Medicine
JF - Behavioral Medicine
IS - 4
ER -