The Role of Resilience in Coping With Future Uncertainty Among People With Brain Tumors: Cross-Sectional Study

Adults with brain tumors learn to navigate unpredictable physical and psychological symptoms along with the possibilities of tumor recurrence. As a result, they tend to become resilient to confronting profound uncertainty and actively employ coping strategies. Yet, the impact of resilience on coping strategies among people with brain tumors has not been fully explored.

This study aimed to examine the effects of resilience on the association between future uncertainty and two distinct types of coping strategies (problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping) among people with brain tumors in Taiwan.

A parent study recruited 95 adults with brain tumors undergoing at least 1 month of chemotherapy or radiotherapy at a veterans general hospital in northern Taiwan. We assessed resilience, future uncertainty, and coping strategies via a secondary analysis of data from the parent study collected using the Chinese versions of the Resilience Scale, the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer's Quality of Life Questionnaire for brain cancer, and the revised Ways of Coping Checklist. Simple mediation models were conducted to examine the role of resilience between future uncertainty and the two types of coping strategies.

Most participants demonstrated low resilience and responded to stress with both problem- and emotion-focused coping strategies. Simple mediation analyses showed a statistically significant association between an increase in resilience and adoption of each type of coping strategy. In addition, resilience was a statistically significant mediator in the association between future uncertainty and both problem- and emotion-focused coping strategies.

Brain tumor disease trajectories require people to effectively adopt both problem- and emotion-focused coping strategies to confront uncertainty. Health care providers play a crucial role in evaluating and fostering their patients' resilience to promote adaptability through effective coping strategies.