Psychological resilience in adolescent and young adult survivors of lower extremity bone tumors

Background The psychosocial outcomes of young adult survivors of childhood bone tumors are not well known. This study: (a) examined perceived social support (SS) and benefit-finding (BF) with respect to surgical intervention, gender, and age; (b) compared SS and psychological outcomes to normative values; and (c) examined the relationship between these social and psychological outcomes and sexual functioning. Procedure Twenty-eight participants (1832 years) completed outcome-specific questionnaires for SS, BF, depression, self-worth, and sexual functioning. Surgical intervention was grouped into limb sparing (LS; allograft-fusion and endoprosthesis) and ablative procedures (AMP; amputation or Van Nes rotationplasty). Age at study was grouped into 25 or 26 years of age. Results Compared to normative values, survivors reported significantly less depressive symptoms (P=0.005), and higher self-evaluations of intellectual capabilities (P=0.009). No significant differences in SS and BF were found between surgical and age groups. Males perceived significantly higher SS than females (P=0.027). Significant positive correlations were found between perceived SS and sexual functioning (r=0.397), sexual experiences (r=0.423), and satisfaction with sexual relationships (r=0.408). Negative correlation was found between global SS and depression scores (r=0.397). Similar correlations were found with the subscales of the SS, depression, and self-worth measures. BF was significantly positively correlated only to SS (r=0.552). Conclusions Bone tumor survivors, particularly males, demonstrated remarkable psychosocial resiliency with SS possibly serving as a protective factor for survivors' psychological and sexual functioning. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2013; 60: 12231230. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.