Table 1.
Characteristics of studies included in the meta-analysis.
| Study | N | Health event | Mean age (range) | Sex composition | Racial composition | Mean time since occurrence | Measure of growth | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bellizzi, Miller, Arora, & Rowland (2007) | 308 | Non-Hodgkins Lymphona | 60 (23–85) | 51.3% male, 48.7% female | 30% Hispanic | 42 months | Close ended | 3 |
| Bower et al. (2005) | 763 | Breast cancer | 56 (3 0–87) | 100% female | 83.7% White, 8.7% Black, 7.6% Other | 40.8 months | Close ended | 3 |
| Carrico et al. (2006) | 264 | HIV/AIDS | 40 | 49% male, 51% female | 49% African American, 25% Caucasian, 13% Hispanic | 7.7 years | BFS (a) | 4 |
| Cole, Hopkins, Tisak, Steel, and Carr (2008) | 253 | Cancer (Mixed) | 58 (28–86) | 78% female, 22% male | 95% White | 7 months | Spiritual transformation scale | 4 |
| Cordova, Cunningham, Carlson, and Andrykowski (2001) | 70 | Breast cancer | 55 (27–87) | 100% female | 90% White, 9% Black, 1% Other | 24 months | PTGI | 4 |
| Cordova et al. (2007) | 92 | Breast cancer | 52 (25–72.8) | 100% female | 86% White | 9.4 months | PTGI | 4 |
| Curbow, Somerfield, Baker, Wingard and Legro (1993) | 135 | Bone marrow transplant | 31 (18–53) | 61% male, 39% female | 91% White | 47 months | Open ended | 4 |
| Fromm et al. (1996) | 90 | Bone marrow transplantation | 39 | 58% male, 42% female | NR | 49.5 months | Open ended | 3 |
| Harrington, McGurk, and Llewellyn (2008) | 76 | Head and neck cancer | 66.9 (32–97) | 51% female, 49% male | 93% White, 7% Other | 34% 73–121 months, 25% 48–72 months, 41% < 48 months posttreatment | BFS (a) | 4 |
| Ho, Chan, and Ho (2004) | 188 | Cancer (Mixed) | 49 (26–69) | 17% male, 83% female | Chinese | > 5 years disease free | PTGI Chinese version | 3 |
| (Ickovics, Milan, et al., 2006) | 773 | HIV/AIDS | 36 (19–55) | 100% women | 60% Black, 20% Latina, 20% White/Other | NR | Close ended | 3 |
| Jaarsma, Pool, Sanderman, and Ranchor (2006) | 294 | Cancer | 56 (21–84) | 28% male, 72% female | NR | 3.90 years | PTGI (in Dutch) | 4 |
| Katz, Flasher, Cacciapaglia, and Nelson (2001) | 87 | Cancer and lupus | 53 | 13% male, 87% female | 73% White, 6% Black, 2% Asian, 12% Hispanic, 8% Other | 9 years | BFS (b) | 3 |
| Kinsinger et al. (2006) | 250 | Prostate cancer | 65 | 100% male | 41% White, 17% Black, 42% Hispanic | 15.7 months | BFS (a) | 4 |
| Klauer, Ferring, and Filipp (1998) | 100 | Cancer (mixed) | 53 | 42% female, 58% male | NR | 40% 1 year, 20% 2 years, 25% 2–5 years, 15% 5+ years | Close ended | 2 |
| Littlewood, Vanable, Carey and Blair (2008) | 221 | HIV/AIDS | 40 (22–59) | 44% female, 56% male | 42% African American, 46% Caucasian, 4% Native American, 4% Asian Pacific Islander, 4% Other | 7 years | BFS (a) | 4 |
| Luszczynska et al. (2007) | 104 | HIV/AIDS | 35 (18–54) | 36% male, 64% female | 100% Indian | < 5 years | BFS (a) | 3 |
| Milam (2004) | 835 | HIV/AIDS | 38 | 87% male, 13% female | 40% White, 37% Hispanic, 17% Black, 7% Other | 6.4 years | Items from PTGI | 4 |
| *Milam, 2006b, Milam, 2006a | 412 | HIV/AIDS | 39 | 88% male, 12% female | 39% White, 40% Hispanic, 15% African American, 6% Other | 6.4 years | Items from PTGI | 4 |
| Mols, Vingerhoets, Coebergh and Poll-France (2009) | 183 | Breast cancer | 100% female | NR | NR | PTGI | 3 | |
| Morrill et al. (2008) | 161 | Breast cancer | 59 (36–87) | 100% female | 85% White, 12% African American | 4 years | PTGI | 3 |
| (Mystakidou, Parpa, et al., 2007) | 54 | Cancer | 60 (36–84) | 27.6% male 72.4% female | NR | 55.2% < 3 years, 44.8 ≥ 3 years | PTGI | 4 |
| (Mystakidou, Tsilika, et al., 2007) | 100 | Breast cancer | 58.2 (31–81) | 100% female | NR | 6.1 years | PTGI | 4 |
| Park, Edmondson, Fenster, and Blank (2008) | 172 | Cancer (mixed) | 45.2 | 69% female, 31% male | 88% White, 5% Latino, 3% Black/African American, 2% Native American | 23.4 months since primary treatment | PBS | 5 |
| Petrie et al. (1999) Study 2 | 52 | Breast cancer | 54 | 100% female | 92% European, 4% Maori, 4% other | 3 months posttradiation | Open ended | 3 |
| Salmon, Manzi, and Valori (1996) | 200 | Cancer (mixed) | 17% < 50, 45% 50–65, 38% > 75 | 58% male, 42% female | NR | Median = 52 weeks | Close ended | 3 |
| Salsman, Segerstorm, Brechting, Carlson, and Andrykowski (2009) | 55 | Colorectal cancer | 65.9 | 58.9% female, 41.1% male | NR | 12 months | PTGI | 4 |
| Schroevers and Teo (2008) | 113 | Cancer (mixed) | 51.8 (17–85) | 66.4% female, 33.5% male | 82.3% Chinese, 11.5% Malay | 45 months | PTGI | 3 |
| Schulz and Mohamed (2004) | 105 | Cancer (mixed) | 62 (19–86) | 61% male 39% female | NR | 1 month postsurgery | BFS (a) | 3 |
| Schwarzer, Luszczynska, Boehmer, Taubert, and Knoll (2006) | 117 | Cancer surgery | 62 | 62% male 38% female | NR | NR | Close ended | 3 |
| Sears, Stanton, and Danoff-Burg (2003) | 60 | Breast cancer | 52 (28–76) | 100% female | 87% White, 7% Black, 3% Latina, 1% Asian American, 1% Native American | 80 weeks | PTGI | 3 |
| Siegel, Scrimshaw and Pretter (2005) | 138 | HIV/AIDS | 38 (22–48) | 100% female | 38% African American, 34% Puerto Rican, 28% White | 87.6 months | Thriving scale | 4 |
| Thornton and Perez (2006) | 82 | Prostate cancer | 61 (41–78) | 100% male | 90% White | NR | PTGI | 4 |
| Tomich and Helgeson (2004) | 364 | Breast cancer | 48 (25–75) | 100% female | 93% White, 6% Black, 1% Hispanic | 4 months | BFS (a) | 3 |
| Updegraff et al. (2002) | 189 | HIV | 37 (19–62) | 100% female | 48% Black, 33% White, 20% Latina | 4.65 years | Open ended | 3 |
| Urcuyo et al. (2005) | 230 | Breast cancer | 54 (27–87) | 100% female | 63% White, 27% Hispanic, 10% Black | 3–12 months post surgery | BFS (a) | 4 |
| Widows et al. (2005) | 72 | Cancer–Bone marrow transplantation | 48 (25–66) | 26% male, 74% female | 85% White, 7% Black, 8% Hispanic | 24.05 | PTGI | 4 |
| Yanez et al. (2009) Study 2 | 165 | Cancer (mixed) | 45.7 (22–55) | 33% male, 67% female | 89% White | 3.5 years | BFS (a) | 5 |
NR = Not reported in the study; PTGI = Posttraumatic Growth Inventory; SRGS – Stress Related Growth Scale; PBS – Perceived Benefits Scale; BFS (a) = Benefit Finding Scale (Antoni et al., 2001); BFS (b) = Benefit Finding Scale (Mohr et al., 1990); SLQ – Silver Lining Questionnaire.