Resiliency, Distress, and Stress Coping in Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Survivors who Underwent the Bounce Back Program, a Stress Management and Resiliency Program, Across Gender and Race/Ethnicity

Abstract

Adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors are an overlooked population when it comes to mental health outcomes. Additionally, there are gender and race/ethnicity-based differences in levels of resiliency, distress, stress coping, and mind-body intervention engagement, however these have not been explicitly explored among AYA cancer survivors. This thesis aims to evaluate gender- and race/ethnicity-based differences in baseline, and pre- to post-intervention changes in resilience, depression, anxiety, and stress coping, as well as differences in engagement among participants of the Bounce Back program, a mind-body stress-management and resiliency program targeting the post-treatment phase among AYA cancer survivors. Independent samples t-tests were conducted to evaluate whether there were differences by gender and race/ethnicity with regard to mean baseline measures and mean number of sessions attended. Chi-square tests were performed to determine whether the completion status varied by gender and race/ethnicity. Linear regressions were performed to evaluate main effects of gender and race/ethnicity predicted on baseline and change scores of resilience, depression, anxiety, and stress coping, as well as to account for potential covariates. Baseline anxiety scores among females (M = 62.02, SD = 6.92) were significantly higher than among males (M = 54.42, SD = 10.37) (p = 0.01), even after adjusting for covariates. There were no differences between genders or races/ethnicities with respect to number of sessions attended or pre- to post-intervention changes in outcome measures, highlighting that the Bounce Back program is able to engage participants equitably and show similar improvements regardless of gender or race/ethnicity.