Post-traumatic growth in advanced cancer patients receiving palliative care.
OBJECTIVE
To develop the Greek version of the Post-traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI-Gr), and assess its psychometric properties in a palliative care patient sample.


METHODS
The scale was translated with the forward-backward procedure to Greek. It was administered twice, with a 3-day interval, to 131 eligible patients with advanced cancer. Together with the PTGI, the patients also completed the Greek version of the Impact of Events Scale-Revised scale (IES-R-Gr). The reliability was assessed by the internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha coefficients), test/retest (Spearman's r value), and inter-item correlations. Validity was demonstrated by factor analysis, inter-scale correlations, construct validity with the IES-R-Gr, and combined with the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status.


RESULTS
The PTGI-Gr yielded a five-factor structure, explaining 73.5% of the variance. Cronbach's alphas for the five factors ranged from .66 to .87, respectively. Overall test-retest reliability was satisfactory with a range between .85 and .92 (p<.0005), and inter-item correlations ranged between .47 and .63. Inter-scale correlations were found satisfactory (p<.0005, p<.005, and p<.05). Validity as performed using combined validity analysis showed good results. Satisfactory construct validity was supported by the correlation analysis between the PTGI-Gr and the IES-R-Gr scales.


CONCLUSIONS
PTGI-Gr is an instrument with satisfactory psychometric properties, and is a valid research tool for the post-traumatic growth of advanced cancer patients.
Mystakidou
Kyriaki
K
Pain Relief and Palliative Care Unit, Department of Radiology, University of Athens, Athens, Greece. mistakidou@yahoo.com
Tsilika
Eleni
E
Parpa
Efi
E
Galanos
Antonis
A
Vlahos
Lambros
L
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000523:psychology*; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D012944:Social Support; D029181:Spirituality; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D014175:Translating