Effects of Illness Perception and Emotion Regulation Strategies on Posttraumatic Growth in Lung Cancer Chemotherapy Patients and Their Family Caregivers: An Actor–Partner Interdependence Model Analysis

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the dyadic relationship between illness perception, emotion regulation strategies, and posttraumatic growth in patients with lung cancer undergoing chemotherapy and their family caregivers. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional approach to collect data from 332 pairs of lung cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and family caregivers from China. Participants completed the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory. The actor-partner interdependence effects were used to analyze how illness perception and emotion regulation strategies affect posttraumatic growth in the patients themselves and their family caregivers. Results: Both illness perception and emotion regulation strategies had significant actor and partner effects on posttraumatic growth in patients with lung cancer undergoing chemotherapy and their family caregivers. Emotion regulation strategies were categorized as cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, and patients had lower scores than caregivers for posttraumatic growth, illness perception, and expressive suppression, except for cognitive reappraisal scores, which were higher than caregivers. In patient-caregiver dyads, cognitive reappraisal was positively associated with posttraumatic growth in themselves and each other, whereas both illness perception and expressive suppression were negatively associated with posttraumatic growth. Conclusion: Reducing negative illness perceptions and expressive suppression may promote posttraumatic growth in patients with lung cancer undergoing chemotherapy and their family caregivers. Facilitating cognitive reappraisal may be useful in enhancing posttraumatic growth, which provides direction for future intervention research. Healthcare professionals should view lung cancer chemotherapy patients and their family caregivers as a whole and develop dyadic interventions.