Investigation of relationship between resilience and posttraumatic growth with religiosity level in patients with breast cancer

Objective: In our study, it was aimed to investigate the relationship between religiosity level, post-traumatic growth and resilience of patients with breast cancer which is a traumatic life event and to evaluate the patients' hope levels and current psychiatric conditions in addition to main titles. Materialsand Method:138 female patients with breast cancer and 138 healthy volunteers matched with gender, age and education level were included in the study group. The General Health Questionnaire, Sociodemographic Data Form, Resilience Scale for Adults, Beck Hopelessness Scale, Islamic Religiosity Scale and The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory were administered by the participants in a self-report format. The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory was not administered in the healthy participant group because there was no exposure to trauma. Results: No statistically significant difference was found between the patient and the control group in terms of level of religiosity, resilience, general health questionnaire and hopelessness levels.There was a positive correlation between the level of religiousness and posttraumatic growth, both on the basis of total scores and on various sub-dimensions. There was no relationship between religiosity and resilience, which is the other main area of our study. In the patient group, the level of hope was close to that of the control group. Discussion: Religious evaluation factors have a positive effect on post-traumatic growth and active-adaptive coping with trauma due to effects such as disease and process meaning, justification, feeling of control, reevaluation of experience, social support through religious participation. Resilience is developing in childhood and youth; while in adulthood it is a relatively stable structure. For this reason, no significant effect of religion on the resilience of adult participants was observed. The high hope scores of patients may be attributed to the increase in the development of cancer treatment and remission rates, especially the good prognosis at early diagnosis, the high levels of social support systems of the patients, and the easier access to correct information. Conclusion: There is a need to more studies by clinicians on religiosity-psychiatry relation, especially in Muslim communities and to increase their work on how they can be used in medical interventions for the benefit of patients in the light of data. Key words: religion, religiosity, breast cancer, posttraumatic growth, resilience.