The Role of Social and Cognitive Processes in the Relationship Between Fear Network and Psychological Distress Among Parents of Children Undergoing Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

• Authors: Shannon Myers Virtue, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey; Sharon Manne, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey; Laura Mee, Emory University; Abraham Bartell, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; Stephen Sands, Columbia University; Pamela Ohman-Strickland, Rutgers State University; Tina Marie Gajda, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey
• Journal Title: Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings
• Volume: Volume 21, Number 3
• Publisher: Springer (part of Springer Nature): Springer Open Choice Hybrid Journals | 2014-09-01, Pages 223-233
• Type of Work: Article | Post-print: After Peer Review
• Publisher DOI: http://doi.org/10.1007/s10880-014-9403-6
• Subjects: Psychology, Clinical; Biology, Biostatistics
• Keywords: Social Sciences; Psychology, Clinical; Psychology; Pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplant; Fear; Psychological adaptation; Parents; BONE-MARROW-TRANSPLANTATION; BEHAVIORAL SELF-BLAME; OF-THE-LITERATURE; POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS; BREAST-CANCER; LIFE EVENTS; MOTHERS; SUPPORT; PREDICTORS; DEPRESSION

Abstract

The current study examined whether cognitive and social processing variables mediated the relationship between fear network and depression among parents of children undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT). Parents whose children were initiating HSCT (N = 179) completed survey measures including fear network, Beck Depression Inventory, cognitive processing variables (positive reappraisal and self-blame) and social processing variables (emotional support and holding back from sharing concerns). Fear network was positively correlated with depression (p < .001). Self-blame and holding back emerged as individual partial mediators in the relationship between fear network and depression. Together they accounted for 34.3 % of the variance in the relationship between fear network and depression. Positive reappraisal and emotional support did not have significant mediating effects. Social and cognitive processes, specifically self-blame and holding back from sharing concerns, play a negative role in parents' psychological adaptation to fears surrounding a child's HSCT.