Pain acceptance as a predictor of benefit-finding in cancer patients and the influence of the cultural background on bot

Master's Thesis from the year 2014 in the subject Psychology - Clinical Psychology, Psychopathology, Prevention, grade: 55, University of Salford (College of Health and Social care), course: Applied Psychology (Therapies), language: English, abstract: This proposed study is about pain in cancer patients. It explores the efficacy of pain acceptance in cancer patients. There are several questions it tries to answer: Does an individual who is suffering from cancer view the pain accompanying the illness as beneficial at any stage? Is there a relationship between pain acceptance and benefit finding? Does culture have an impact on pain acceptance and benefit finding in cancer patients? If the answer is yes, what are the cultural elements that influence pain acceptance and benefit finding? Do they refer to social relationships? Is it religion that has a major impact on the patient¿s attitude? Or is there something else? The present proposal hopes to recruit a sufficient number of participants that represent the cancer community. Participants will be from different ethnic groups throughout England, it will be a mixture of English, Chinese, Pakistani and Arabic people from the Middle East. Conducting this study will be beneficial for more than one group of people as it might provide indications for cancer patients regarding pain acceptance and the ability to gain benefit from being ill. It could also prove to be a helpful tool for the healthcare authorities and professionals giving them a clearer idea about the importance of culture in pain management, the way to deal with cultural differences and to observe some good practice and adapt it to work in other cultures or for other patients.