Thesis (Ph. D.)--Johns Hopkins University.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2010. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 132-142). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis--Leipzig. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--Leipzig. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2002. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 91 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 46-51).

Thesis--Leipzig. / Includes bibliographical references.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of Toledo, 2010 / Typescript. "Submitted to the Graduate Faculty as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Psychology." "A dissertation entitled"--at head of title. Title from title page of PDF document. Bibliography: p. 78-93.

Background: Despite advances in cancer prognosis and increased survival rates for childhood cancer, having a child diagnosed with cancer can be considered one of the most stressful life events in a parent’s life. The adverse psychological impact of childhood cancer on parents has been found to be higher than in any other childhood chronic illness. Parents can find it difficult to adjust and use effective coping strategies to deal with the illness-related demands. Dispositional optimism (i.e. positive outcome expectancies for the future) has become a key theoretical component in positive and health psychological research, aiming to explain adjustment and coping in distressing life situations. However, optimism in the context of caregiving for a child with chronic illness and especially cancer has received little research attention, but may be important as optimistic people tend to show greater psychological adjustment and effective coping. Aims: To identify the characteristics of optimistic parents of children with cancer. To examine the relationship between optimism, anxiety, depression, life satisfaction, coping and subjective health perception in parents of children with cancer and parents of healthy children. Also, to provide a more in-depth understanding of the needs and experiences of parents in relation to their level of optimism/pessimism. Methods: A mixed methodological approach (quantitative and qualitative methods) was adopted to study optimism as well as the impact and the experiences of parents caring for their child with cancer. The mixed method design comprised two phases of data collection and analysis. In Phase I, quantitative methods were used. 100 parents of children with cancer were recruited during attendance at Oncology Out-patients Clinics at a UK regional Cancer Centre. A comparison group of 117 parents of healthy children were also recruited. All parents completed a questionnaire, providing demographic and medical information relating to their child, dispositional optimism, psychological distress, life satisfaction, coping and subjective health perception. Descriptive statistics, unrelated t-tests and x2 tests were used where appropriate to examine differences on optimism, psychological distress, life satisfaction and coping variables between the SG and CG. Bivariate Pearson correlations were used to identify any possible differences between the two groups. In Phase II, qualitative data were collected and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). 10 semi-structured interviews were conducted with 5 high optimistic and 5 high pessimistic parents of children with cancer given their optimism score in the quantitative study. Results: In the Phase I of the study, findings showed that the parents of children with cancer had higher levels of anxiety, depression, lower levels of optimism, satisfaction with life and subjective health perception than the comparison group. Optimism was significantly correlated with satisfaction with life, subjective health perception, anxiety and depression in both groups. The interviews in Phase II of the study explained better the role of optimism and pessimism in parental experience of adjusting to and coping with childhood cancer. Interviewees described the way that their child’s diagnosis of cancer had affected their lives and their journey from shock to acceptance and adjustment for the optimistic parents or despair and feelings of helplessness and inability to cope for the pessimistic parents. Regardless of level optimism/pessimism, interviews underlined the importance and parents’ need for social support, ongoing communication with health professionals and contact with other parents of children with cancer. Conclusion: The findings highlight the importance of optimism and pessimism in relationship to psychological distress in parents of children with cancer. Interventions targeting parents’ optimism are recommended as a potential source of coping with adversity within this population.

Past research into optimism and pessimism has tended to view these constructs as polar opposites of a fixed personality trait that function in mutually exclusive ways. In the field of child development in particular, this has led to theory-driven work that not only accepts this dichotomy but also uses it to drive and explicate larger issues of resilience and vulnerability. The current thesis challenges the assumptions underpinning this conceptual framework, and, through the use of divergent methodologies, seeks to establish children’s optimism as a dynamic and adaptive process with predictive value during the developmental period. In the first two studies, predictors and correlates of putative dispositional optimism and pessimism in children and adolescents were examined. A significant age-related decline in optimism was found, but importantly a degree of functional independence between optimism and pessimism was also observed. The third study elicited more specific optimistic expectancies using a vignette methodology. This was seen to share some congruence with the earlier measures of dispositional optimism, but the study also elucidated some of the parameters and realism constraining children’s optimism. Again an age-related decline in optimism was demonstrated that was distinct from any associated changes in pessimism. The fourth and final study involved a pilot examination of the dimensionality of the optimism construct, confirming its functional independence from pessimism, and also demonstrating the fluidity and receptivity of children’s optimistic processes from an intervention perspective. From these various studies, it is concluded that optimistic and pessimistic processes in children and adolescents reflect functionally distinct pathways and drive different aspects of vulnerability and well-being. A reconfiguration of the extant theory in this area seems warranted. Based on this conceptual and methodological critique, a preliminary proposal is put forward towards a more substantive approach to the development of optimism and pessimism during childhood and adolescence. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1317136 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Psychology, 2008

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