An Investigation of the Relationship Between Social Support, Psychological Resilience, and Post-Traumatic Growth in...

This study aimed to examine the associations among perceived social support, psychological resilience, and post-traumatic growth (PTG) in patients with epilepsy and to explore whether psychological resilience statistically mediated the association between social support and PTG.

This cross-sectional correlational study was conducted with 158 patients with epilepsy recruited through snowball sampling between May and December 2025. Data were collected using the personal information form, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Brief Resilience Scale, and the post-traumatic growth inventory. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, hierarchical regression analysis, and PROCESS Macro (Model 4) were used for data analysis.

Significant positive correlations were found between social support and psychological resilience (r = 0.759), social support and PTG (r = 0.491), and psychological resilience and PTG (r = 0.465) (p < 0.001). Hierarchical regression analysis showed that social support was positively associated with PTG (β = 0.462, p < 0.001), whereas the direct association between psychological resilience and PTG was not statistically significant (β = 0.168, p = 0.120). Bootstrapping analysis indicated a significant indirect association of psychological resilience in the relationship between social support and PTG (indirect effect = 0.220; 95% CI [0.007-0.466]).

Perceived social support, psychological resilience, and post-traumatic growth were positively associated in patients with epilepsy. The findings suggest that psychological resilience may play a role in the observed association between social support and post-traumatic growth. Given the cross-sectional nature of the study, longitudinal research is needed to clarify the direction and temporal nature of these relationships.