Medical Illness and Positive Life Change: Can Crisis Lead to Personal Transformation?

254 Pages·2009·17.6 MB·English

by  Crystal L. Park, Suzanne C. Lechner, Michael H. Antoni

MEDICAL ILLNESS AND
POSITIVE LIFE CHANGE
Can Crisis Lead to
Personal Transformation?
Edited by
Crystal L. Park
Suzanne C. Lechner
Michael H. Antoni
Annette L. Stanton
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DECADE Y-
^/BEHAVIOR °
American Psychological Association
Washington, DC
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APA Science Volumes
Attribution and Social Interaction: The Legacy of Edward E. Jones
Best Methods for the Analysis of Change: Recent Advances, Unanswered
Questions, Future Directions
Cardiovascular Reactivity to Psychological Stress and Disease
The Challenge in Mathematics and Science Education: Psychology's
Response
Changing Employment Relations: Behavioral and Social Perspectives
Children Exposed to Marital Violence: Theory, Research, and Applied
Issues
Cognition: Conceptual and Methodological Issues
Cognitive Bases of Musical Communication
Cognitive Dissonance: Progress on a Pivotal Theory in Social Psychology
Conceptualization and Measurement of Organism-Environment Interaction
Converging Operations in the Study of Visual Selective Attention
Creative Thought: An Investigation of Conceptual Structures and Processes
Developmental Psychoacoustics
Diversity in Work Teams: Research Paradigms for a Changing Workplace
Emotion and Culture: Empirical Studies of Mutual Influence
Emotion, Disclosure, and Health
Evolving Explanations of Development: Ecological Approaches to
Organism-Environment Systems
Examining Lives in Context: Perspectives on the Ecology of Human
Development
Global Prospects for Education: Development, Culture, and Schooling
Hostility, Coping, and Health
Measuring Patient Changes in Mood, Anxiety, and Personality Disorders:
Toward a Core Battery
Occasion Setting: Associative Learning and Cognition in Animals
Organ Donation and Transplantation: Psychological and Behavioral
Factors
Origins and Development of Schizophrenia: Advances in Experimental
Psychopathology
The Perception of Structure
Perspectives on Socially Shared Cognition
Psychological Testing of Hispanics
Psychology of Women's Health: Progress and Challenges in Research
and Application
Researching Community Psychology: Issues of Theory and Methods
The Rising Curve: Long-Term Gains in IQ and Related Measures
Sexism and Stereotypes in Modern Society: The Gender Science of
Janet Taylor Spence
Sleep and Cognition
Sleep Onset: Normal and Abnormal Processes
Stereotype Accuracy: Toward Appreciating Group Differences
Stereotyped Movements: Brain and Behavior Relationships
Studying Lives Through Time: Personality and Development
The Suggestibility of Children's Recollections: Implications for Eyewitness
Testimony
Taste, Experience, and Feeding: Development and Learning
Temperament: Individual Differences at the Interface of Biology and
Behavior
Through the Looking Glass: Issues of Psychological Well-Being in Captive
Nonhuman Primates
Uniting Psychology and Biology: Integrative Perspectives on Human
Development
Viewing Psychology as a Whole: The Integrative Science of William N.
Dember
APA Decade of Behavior Volumes
Acculturation: Advances in Theory, Measurement, and Applied Research
Animal Research and Human Health: Advancing Human Welfare Through
Behavioral Science
Behavior Genetics Principles: Perspectives in Development, Personality, and
Psychopathology
Categorization Inside and Outside the Laboratory: Essays in Honor of
Douglas L. Medin
Child Development and Social Policy: Knowledge for Action
Children's Peer Relations: From Development to Intervention
Computational Modeling of Behavior in Organizations: The Third Scientific
Discipline
Developing Individuality in the Human Brain: A Tribute to Michael I.
Posner
Emerging Adults in America: Coming of Age in the 21st Century
Experimental Cognitive Psychology and Its Applications
Family Psychology: Science-Based Interventions
Medical Illness and Positive Life Change: Can Crisis Lead to Personal
Transformation ?
Memory Consolidation: Essays in Honor of James L. McGaugh
Models of Intelligence: International Perspectives
The Nature of Remembering: Essays in Honor of Robert G. Crowder
New Methods for the Analysis of Change
On the Consequences of Meaning Selection: Perspectives on Resolving
Lexical Ambiguity
Participatory Community Research: Theories and Methods in Action
Personality Psychology in the Workplace
Perspectivism in Social Psychology: The Yin and Yang of Scientific Progress
Primate Perspectives on Behavior and Cognition
Principles of Experimental Psychopathology: Essays in Honor of
Brendan A. Maher
Psychosocial Interventions for Cancer
Racial Identity in Context: The Legacy of Kenneth B. Clark
The Social Psychology of Group Identity and Social Conflict: Theory,
Application, and Practice
Strengthening Research Methodology: Psychological Measurement and
Evaluation
Unraveling the Complexities of Social Life: A Festschrift in Honor of
Robert B. Zajonc
Visual Perception: The Influence ofH. W. Leibowitz
aHMMHH
Contents
Contributors xi
Foreword xi
Preface xv
Introduction 3
Suzanne C. Lechner, Crystal L. Park, Annette L. Stanton,
and Michael H. Antoni
Par t I. Conceptual and Methodological Isues 9
1. Overview of Theoretical Perspectives 1
Crystal L. Park
2. Assessing Positive Life Change:
In Search of Meticulous Methods 31
Howard Tennen and Glenn Affleck
3. Challenges in Studying Positive Change After Adversity:
Ilustrations From Research on Breast Cancer 51
Charles S. Carver, Suzanne C. Lechner, and Michael H. Antoni
Pa r t I. Developmental Isues 63
4. Benefit Finding Among Children and Adolescents
With Diabetes 65
Vicki S. Helgeson, Lindsey Lopez, and Constance Mennella
5. Life Span Developmental Perspectives
on Stres-Related Growth 87
Carolyn M. Aldwin, Michael R. Levenson, and Linda Kelly
Par t I. Factors That Influence Positive Life Change 105
6. Lessons Learned About Benefit Finding Among Individuals
With Cancer or HIV/AIDS 107
Suzanne C. Lechner and Kathryn E. Weaver
7. Illness Perceptions and Benefit Finding Among Individuals
With Breast Cancer, Acoustic Neuroma, or Heart Disease 125
Keith J. Petrie and Arden Carter
IX
X CONTENTS
8. Positive Life Change and the Social Context of Illness:
An Expanded Social-Cognitive Procesing Model 139
Stephen J. Lepore and William D. Kernan
Pa r t IV. Efects of Positive Life Change 153
9. Biological Correlates: How Psychological Components
of Benefit Finding May Lead to Physiological Benefits 15
Julienne E. Bower, Elissa Epel, and Judith Tedlie Moskowitz
10. Is Benefit Finding Good for Individuals
With Cironic Disease? 173
Sara B. Algoe and Annette L. Stanton
Pa r t V. Clinical Aplications 195
11. Enhancing Positive Adaptation: Example Intervention
During Treatment for Breast Cancer 197
Michael H. Antoni, Charles S. Carver, and Suzanne C. Lechner
12. The Clinician as Expert Companion 215
Richard G. Tedeschi and Lawrence G. Calhoun
Afterword 237
Author Index 241
Subject Index 251
About the Editors 261
Contributors
Glenn Affleck, PhD, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington
Carolyn M. Aldwin, PhD, Oregon State University, Corvallis
Sara B. Algoe, PhD, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Michael H. Antoni, PhD, University of Miami, Miami, FL
Jul ienne E. Bower, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles
Lawrence G. Calhoun, PhD, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Charles S. Carver, PhD, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL
Arden Corter, MSc, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Elissa Epel, PhD, University of California, San Francisco
Vicki S. Helgeson, PhD, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Linda Kelly, PhD, University of California, Davis
William D. Kernan, EdD, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ
Suzanne C. Lechner, PhD, University of Miami, Miami, FL
Stephen J . Lepore, PhD, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Michael R. Levenson, PhD, Oregon State University, Corvallis
Lindsey Lopez, BA, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Constance Mennella, BA, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Jud i th Tedlie Moskowitz, PhD, MPH, University of California,
San Francisco
Crystal L. Park, PhD, University of Connecticut, Storrs
Keith J . Petrie, PhD, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Annette L. Stanton, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles
Richard G. Tedeschi, PhD, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Howard Tennen, PhD, University of Connecticut Health Center,
Farmington
Kathryn E. Weaver, PhD, MPH, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD
Foreword
In early 1988, the American Psychological Association (APA) Science Direc-
torate began its sponsorship of what would become an exceptionally successful
activity in support of psychological science—the APA Scientific Conferences
program. This program has showcased some of the most important topics in
psychological science and has provided a forum for collaboration among many
leading figures in the field.
The program has inspired a series of books that have presented cutting-
edge work in all areas of psychology. At the turn of the millennium, the series
was renamed the Decade of Behavior Series to help advance the goals of this
important initiative. The Decade of Behavior is a major interdisciplinary
campaign designed to promote the contributions of the behavioral and social
sciences to our most important societal challenges in the decade leading up to
2010. Although a key goal has been to inform the public about these scientific
contributions, other activities have been designed to encourage and further col-
laboration among scientists. Hence, the series that was the "APA Science
Series" has continued as the "Decade of Behavior Series." This represents one
element in APA's efforts to promote the Decade of Behavior initiative as one of
its endorsing organizations. For additional information about the Decade of
Behavior, please visit http://www.decadeofbehavior.org.
Over the course of the past years, the Science Conference and Decade of
Behavior Series has allowed psychological scientists to share and explore cut-
ting-edge findings in psychology. The APA Science Directorate looks forward to
continuing this successful program and to sponsoring other conferences and
books in the years ahead. This series has been so successful that we have
chosen to extend it to include books that, although they do not arise from
conferences, report with the same high quality of scholarship on the latest
research.
We are pleased that this important contribution to the literature was
supported in part by the Decade of Behavior program. Congratulations to the
editors and contributors of this volume on their sterling effort.
Steven J. Breckler, PhD Virginia E. Holt
Executive Director for Science Assistant Executive Director
for Science
Preface
The idea for this book arose in a hotel lobby bar during a scientific conference
in 2004. We (Crystal and Suzanne) were lamenting that recent research
reports on the phenomena of stress-related growth and benefit finding were
often confusing and contradictory. Crystal commented that it would be nice if
everyone working in these areas were to be in the same room for an in-depth
discussion. We felt that the study of growth had reached a point at which it was
imperative to review and integrate the progress that had been made over the
past 2 decades and to chart a course for future directions. Later, Annette and
Mike concurred about the need for such an event and joined us in its planning.
The chapters in this book are based on presentations at the first Positive
Life Changes in the Context of Medical Illness conference held in 2005, spon-
sored by the Science Directorate of the American Psychological Association
(APA). We enlisted respected researchers to present their thoughts about
growth. Throughout the days and evenings ofthe conference, we had lively dis-
cussions about aspects of growth, particularly in the context of medical illness.
We are extremely grateful to our colleagues who shared their wisdom, time,
and effort in preparing thoughtful and thought-provoking presentations. Many
of those presentations were the basis for the chapters in this book.
Several successful collaborations began that weekend in Storrs, Connecti-
cut. For many, it represented a meeting of the minds and generated fuel for
future theory-building and research. Research questions for several studies
were conceived, and several of those studies are now under way.
All of us would like to express our appreciation to our fine colleagues and
students who attended the conference and contributed their perspectives and
knowledge to the event. Graduate students and research assistants Julie
Fenster, Betina Yanez, Mary Alice Mills, and Donald Edmondson assisted us
with planning, organizing, and hosting the meeting, and we would not have
succeeded without their help. We are grateful to APA; the University of Con-
necticut Center for Health, Intervention, and Prevention; and the University of
Connecticut Department of Psychology for their financial and logistical assis-
tance in bringing this work to a larger audience. We thank Jessica Tocco for her
assistance with manuscript preparation and Susan Rejmolds, our acquisitions
editor in the APA Books Department, for helping us bring this book to fruition.
Finally, we are indebted to the hundreds of individuals who were willing to
share their lives with us as they experienced profound health challenges; we
hope this book does their experience justice, posing vital questions that will
move the field forward.