2022/01/18 by Mary Vining Radomski, Mattie Anheluk, Ginger L. Carroll +11
Health Professions · Medicine · #Cancer survivorship and care #Childhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of Life #Occupational Therapy Practice and Research
paper · doi:10.1177/00084174211073264
crossref issued 2022/01/18 · crossref published 2022/01/18 · crossref published-online 2022/01/18 · openalex publication_date 2022/01/18 · crossref created 2022/01/18 · crossref published-print 2022/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref deposited 2026/04/28 · crossref indexed 2026/07/28 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Background. Purpose in life is important to health and well-being; purpose disruption often goes unidentified after breast cancer. Purpose. To evaluate the efficacy of a purpose renewal intervention and utility of a screening question for identifying people with purpose-related distress. Method. In this prospective pretest-posttest study, participants with breast cancer received an 8-session purpose renewal group intervention (n = 35). Participants completed standardized measures of meaning and purpose at pretest, posttest, and two-month follow-up and a forced-choice Purpose Status Question (PSQ) at pretest. Findings. Participants made statistically significant pretest-to-posttest and pretest-to-follow-up improvements. The PSQ demonstrated construct validity: 40% of participants lacked purpose direction at pretest and this subgroup made significantly greater improvements than participants who reported purpose direction at pretest. Implications. The PSQ warrants further study as a screener to identify people with purpose-related distress. Many breast cancer survivors may benefit from a purpose in life intervention; a subgroup may benefit more.