Personal Resources and Total Pain: Exploring the Multiple Mediation of Fear of Recurrence, Meaning-Making, and Coping in Posttreatment Cancer Patients.

This study investigates the relationships between psychological flexibility, self-esteem, and total pain—defined as pain experienced across physical, psychological, social, and spiritual dimensions—in adults who have completed cancer treatment. Using questionnaires completed by 304 posttreatment cancer patients, the research found that psychological flexibility was negatively associated with all dimensions of total pain, while self-esteem was negatively related only to physical pain. These relationships were mediated both in parallel and serially by fear of cancer recurrence, meaning-making (the cognitive process of finding personal significance in life events), and emotion-oriented coping strategies. The findings suggest that cognitive and affective factors interact to influence how personal psychological resources relate to the multidimensional pain experienced by cancer survivors, highlighting potential targets for supportive interventions after treatment.