Although it is known that certain emotion regulation processes produce a buffering effect on the relationship between life events and well-being, this issue has been poorly studied in the elderly population. Thus, the aim of the present study is to test and confirm a comprehensive model of the impact that past life events have on older adults’ psychological distress, exploring the possible mediating roles of emotion regulation processes. These include rumination, experiential avoidance, and personal growth.

In this cross-sectional study, 387 people over 60 years old residing in the community were assessed on life events, physical functioning, emotion regulation variables, psychological well-being, as well as symptoms of anxiety and depression.

The structural model tested achieved a satisfactory fit to the data, explaining 73% of the variance of older adults’ psychological distress. In addition, the main results suggest possible mediation effects of both the physical functioning and the emotional variables: rumination, experiential avoidance, and personal growth in the face of hardship.

These findings confirm the importance of emotion regulation processes in the final stages of life. They reveal the various adaptive and maladaptive mechanisms that underlie the relationship between life events and psychological distress. The findings suggest – both in the explanatory models of psychological well-being and in psychotherapeutic interventions – the importance of emotion regulation in the elderly population’s health.

Healthcare professionals who work in palliative care units face stressful life events on a daily basis, most notably death. For this reason, these professionals must be equipped with the necessary protective resources to help them cope with professional and personal burnout. Despite the well-recognized importance of the construct “meaning of work,” the role of this construct and its relationship with other variables is not well-understood. Our objective is to develop and evaluate a model that examines the mediating role of the meaning of work in a multidisciplinary group of palliative care professionals. Using this model, we sought to assess the relationships between meaning of work, perceived stress, personal protective factors (optimism, self-esteem, life satisfaction, personal growth, subjective vitality), and sociodemographic variables.

Professionals (n = 189) from a wide range of disciplines (physicians, psychologists, nurses, social workers, nursing assistants, physical therapists, and chaplains) working in palliative care units at hospitals in Madrid and the Balearic Islands were recruited. Sociodemographic variables were collected and recorded. The following questionnaires were administered: Meaning of Work Questionnaire, Perceived Stress Questionnaire, Life Orientation Test-Revised, Satisfaction with Life Scale, Subjective Vitality Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Personal Growth Scale.

The explanatory value of the model was high, explaining 49.5% of the variance of life satisfaction, 43% of subjective vitality, and 36% of personal growth. The main findings of this study were as follow: (1) meaning of work and perceived stress were negatively correlated; (2) optimism and self-esteem mediated the effect of stress on the meaning attached to work among palliative care professionals; (3) the meaning of work mediated the effect of stress on subjective vitality, personal growth, and life satisfaction; and (4) vitality and personal growth directly influenced life satisfaction.

The proposed model showed a high explanatory value for the meaning professionals give to their work and also for perceived stress, personal protective factors, and sociodemographic variables. Our findings could have highly relevant practical implications for designing programs to promote the psychological well-being of healthcare professionals.

Compassion fatigue, burnout, and vicarious traumatization are prominent topics in the current literature on the impact of the rewarding but challenging work of healthcare professionals who care for patients with life-limiting illnesses. The positive effects of caregiving constitute a newly emerging outcome that has been relatively unexplored in the pediatric literature, and yet they may play an important role in contributing to the satisfaction and well-being of the healthcare professionals who care for children who have a life-limiting illness.

This paper reports the results of a secondary analysis of qualitative interview transcripts that explored the experiences of hospital-based pediatric healthcare providers caring for children with varied life-limiting illnesses. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 25 healthcare professionals (9 social workers, 8 nurses, and 8 physicians). The majority of participants were women (80%), with an age range between 20 and 60 years, and most (84%) had the experience of caring for more than 15 dying children. Thematic analysis was conducted using interpretive description and constant comparison.

Every healthcare professional interviewed experienced personal growth as a result of their providing care for dying children. Three dimensions of personal growth were most consistently reported: (1) new or altered life perspectives, (2) enhanced personal resources, and (3) benevolence.

A deeper understanding of the phenomenon of personal growth could help healthcare organizations to implement innovative approaches that would counterbalance compassion fatigue, and thereby enhance both healthcare provider well-being and child and family outcomes.

Experiencing a life-threatening illness such as cancer can elicit both negative (e.g., distress) and positive (e.g., growth) psychological responses. The present study sought to determine the correlates of four positive psychological byproducts in cancer survivors: becoming a stronger person, coping better with life's challenges, making positive changes in life, and adopting healthier habits.

Data for this cross-sectional study were taken from the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey (MEPS) Experiences with Cancer Survivorship Supplement (Yabroff et al., 2012). Cancer survivors (N = 785) reported their sociodemographic and cancer-related characteristics. Descriptive statistics were utilized to summarize cancer survivor characteristics, including demographic factors, cancer factors, and stressors and resources related to cancer. Multivariable logistic regressions were employed to assess the independent association of the stressors and resources with each psychological response, controlling for covariates. All analyses were weighted to account for the complex sampling design of the MEPS.

In multivariable analyses, those with a family caregiver were 50% more likely to report better coping with challenges, and around 70% were more likely to report making positive changes in life or adopting healthier habits because of their cancer. Receiving informational support from healthcare providers was also consistently associated with positive byproducts (odds ratios ranging from 1.6 to 2.0). Few of the stressors were associated with positive byproducts: having insurance problems due to cancer was positively associated with becoming a stronger person, and work limitations were associated with making positive changes in life; those who reported high perceived chances of recurrence were less likely to report becoming a stronger person.

Having a family caregiver and receiving detailed informational support from healthcare providers were associated with reporting positive experiences with cancer. The hypotheses and future research stimulated by these findings may improve our understanding of the process by which positive byproducts develop and may ultimately help improve psychological well-being among cancer survivors.

Aspects of eudaimonic well-being, such as personal growth (PG) and purpose in life (PL), have been highlighted as important to older adults’ health. We investigated the relationship of PG and PL with patterns of survival to the age of 85 years and older.

The sample included 8,880 women from the Women's Health Initiative cohort who reached 85 years of age by December 1, 2013, and for whom data on the PG and PL constructs were available. Women were classified into mutually exclusive outcomes: Healthy, Prevalent, Incident, Disabled, and Deceased. PG and PL were each assessed using a modified seven-item measure derived from the Psychological Well-Being scale.

Women were most commonly classified as Healthy (38.2%, n = 3,395), followed by Incident (24.4%, n = 2,163), Disabled (19.0%, n = 1,685), Prevalent (14.3%, 1,273), and Deceased (4.1%, n = 364). Women with low PL and PG levels were more likely to have prevalent mobility disability and disease or incident death before the age of 85 years. Specifically, those who reported low levels of PG and PL had a 2.1- and 3.6-fold higher risk, respectively, of death.

These findings indicate that even among the oldest old, experience of purposeful life engagement and continuing PG may contribute to better health outcomes.