The role of psychological flexibility in the meaning-reconstruction process in cancer: The intensive longitudinal study protocol

Abstract

Objectives: Meaning-making is an important element of adapting to disease. However, this process is still poorly understood and the theoretical model has not been comprehensively verified yet, particularly in terms of complexity, dynamics, and intraindividual variability. The aim of this study is a deeper understanding of the meaning-reconstruction process in cancer and empirical verification of the integrative meaning-making model of coping extended by the psychological flexibility model. We postulate that psychological flexibility can foster the meaning-making in cancer by building more flexible and workable meaning-making explanations of disease.

Design: A daily-diary study conducted for 14 days in patients following the first autologous or allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT).

Methods: Participants (at least 150) will be requested to complete the daily-diary related to daily situational meaning, meaning-related distress, meaning-making, psychological flexibility, meanings made, and wellbeing for 14 days after hospital discharge following HCT. Also, baseline and follow-up assessment of global meaning, wellbeing, and meanings made will be performed. Statistical analysis of the data will be conducted using the multilevel and dynamic structural equation modeling.

Conclusions: The study will fill in the gaps in health psychology in the understanding of the meaning-reconstruction process in cancer by within- and between-person verification of the integrative meaning-making model and its extension by the psychological flexibility model. The data obtained will be used in further research on the development of meaning-making by means of interventions based on psychological flexibility.

Fig 1. Research model: The meaning-making model of coping with a chronic disease (solid lines) extended by psychological flexibility (dashed lines).