Eur J Oncol Nurs. 2026 Feb 13;81:103151. doi: 10.1016/j.ejon.2026.103151. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate how illness acceptance, body compassion, and post-traumatic growth interact to influence hope in cancer patients, by identifying the sequential mediating pathways among these psychosocial variables.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study recruited 226 cancer patients from three hospitals in Turkey between April and July 2025. The data were obtained through the administration of the Acceptance of Illness Scale, the Body Compassion Scale, the Posttraumatic Growth Scale-Short Form, and the Herth Hope Scale. Descriptive statistics, reliability analyses, and mediation analyses based on the bootstrap method (5000 samples, 95% confidence interval) were conducted, and results with p < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
RESULTS: All study variables were positively correlated (p < 0.05). Illness acceptance was significantly associated with body compassion (β = 0.382, p = 0.003) but not with posttraumatic growth (β = -0.010, p = 0.922), whereas body compassion was positively associated with posttraumatic growth (β = 0.128, p = 0.018). When hope was the outcome, illness acceptance (β = 0.397, p = 0.004), body compassion (β = 0.311, p < 0.001), and posttraumatic growth (β = 0.528, p < 0.001) showed significant positive effects. Mediation analyses revealed significant indirect effects of illness acceptance on hope via body compassion and via body compassion and posttraumatic growth in sequence, but not via posttraumatic growth alone.
CONCLUSIONS: Illness acceptance enhances hope in cancer patients directly and indirectly through body compassion and a sequential pathway involving post-traumatic growth, supporting acceptance- and body-focused interventions in oncology nursing care.
PMID:41698271 | DOI:10.1016/j.ejon.2026.103151
