Quality of life and psychological distress in cancer survivors: The role of psycho‐social resources for resilience

Abstract Objective To examine the association between scores on the Protective Factors for Resilience Scale (PFRS) (as a measure of a person's psycho‐social resources for resilience) and quality of life as well as symptoms of psychological distress for adult cancer survivors. Methods In this cross‐sectional study, 295 cancer survivors (59% female) provided background demographic information and completed the PFRS as well as measures of quality of life and psychological distress previously validated with cancer survivors. Most of the survivors were diagnosed with breast or prostate cancer. Results Analysis of the data confirmed the factor structure for the PFRS for cancer survivors. While controlling for Body Mass Index and age, psycho‐social resources were a unique and positive predictor for all quality of life measures as well as being a unique and negative predictor for the measures of psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and somatization). There was a high degree of consistency regarding these findings for male and female survivors. Conclusions The PFRS is a brief and valid measure of psycho‐social resources for resilience in adult cancer survivors, and scores on the PFRS proved to be a good predictor of quality of life and psychological distress of these cancer survivors. Using the PFRS to assess the psycho‐social resources for resilience would be helpful when developing interventions to enhance the psychological health of adults as they adapt to a diagnosis of cancer.