Primary brain tumor representation in the post-traumatic growth literature: A scoping review

Julia K Brechbiel; Kelcie D Willis; Morgan P Reid; Autumn Lanoye; Farah J Aslanzadeh; Amber M Fox; Sarah Ellen Braun; Ashlee R Loughan

doi:10.1093/nop/npad058

Primary brain tumor representation in the post-traumatic growth literature: A scoping review

Neurooncol Pract. 2023 Sep 19;11(1):26-35. doi: 10.1093/nop/npad058. eCollection 2024 Feb.

Authors

Julia K Brechbiel¹, Kelcie D Willis², Morgan P Reid², Autumn Lanoye^{3

4}, Farah J Aslanzadeh², Amber M Fox², Sarah Ellen Braun^{4

5}, Ashlee R Loughan^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
² Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA.
³ School of Medicine, Department of Health Behavior and Policy, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA.
⁴ Massey Cancer Center, Richmond, Virginia, USA.
⁵ Department of Neurology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA.

PMID: 38222049
PMCID: PMC10785581 (available on 2024-09-19)
DOI: 10.1093/nop/npad058

Abstract

Background: Post-traumatic growth (PTG) has been extensively explored within general oncology, yet little is known about the experience of PTG in neuro-oncology. This study aimed to determine the representation of patients with primary brain tumors (PBT) in the PTG literature.

Methods: PsycINFO, PubMed, and CINAHL were systematically searched from inception to December 2022. Search terms were related to personal growth and positive reactions to cancer. Articles were first screened by titles and abstracts, then full texts were reviewed using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses method.

Results: A total of 382 articles met the inclusion criteria. Of those, 13 included patients with PBT. Over 100 000 cancer patients were represented, with 0.79% having a PBT. Most research focused on low-grade gliomas. PTG negatively correlated with post-traumatic stress symptoms and avoidant coping. In the sole longitudinal study, patients with PBT demonstrated improved PTG after 1 year. Three quasi-experimental studies investigated the effect of mindfulness-based interventions with mixed-cancer samples and demonstrated improvement in PTG.

Conclusions: The inclusion rate of patients with PBT in the PTG literature was significantly lower than the population prevalence rate (1.3% of cancer diagnoses). Relatively few studies focused exclusively on how patients with PBT experience PTG (k = 5), and those that did only included low-grade glioma. The experience of PTG in those with high-grade glioma remains unknown. Patients with PBT are scarcely included in research on PTG interventions. Few studies examined the relationship between PTG and medical, cognitive, or psychological characteristics. Our understanding of the PTG experience in neuro-oncology remains extremely limited.

Keywords: neuro-oncology; post-traumatic growth; primary brain tumor; scoping review.

© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Neuro-Oncology and the European Association of Neuro-Oncology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Publication types

Review