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Journal of Pediatric Psychology Advance Access published online on January 7, 2007
Journal of Pediatric Psychology, doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsl052
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Benefit Finding Scale for Children: Preliminary Findings from a Childhood Cancer Population

Sean Phipps, Alanna M. Long and Johanna Ogden

Division of Behavioral Medicine, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA

All correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Sean Phipps, PhD, Division of Behavioral Medicine, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 332 N. Lauderdale, Memphis, TN 38105-2794, USA. E-mail: sean.phipps{at}stjude.org


  Abstract

Objective To describe the development of a brief measure of benefit finding for children. Data regarding the psychometrics and validity of the instrument were examined in a sample of children with cancer. Methods A cross-sectional sample of children with cancer (N = 199, ages 7–18 years) completed the Benefit Finding Scale for Children (BFSC) along with measures of adaptive style, optimism/pessimism, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and health-related quality of life. Results The BFSC was found to be a unidimensional measure with excellent internal reliability. Benefit finding was not related to age or gender, but differed as a function of race/ethnicity. No differences were found by diagnostic category, but a significant relationship was found with age at diagnosis and time elapsed since diagnosis. Small, but significant positive correlations were found with measures of optimism and self-esteem, and a negative correlation with anxiety. No relation was found between benefit finding and post-traumatic stress symtpoms or other domains of health-related quality of life. Conclusion The BFSC shows promise as a measure of benefit finding in children. The measure could be readily adapted for other populations of children experiencing trauma.

Key words: childhood cancer; benefit finding; post-traumatic growth; post-traumatic stress; optimism.


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