Abstract

Resilience has been shown to provide a buffer against distress and enhance quality of life in people with cancer. However, little is known about the factors associated with resilience among Nigerian men with prostate cancer (MPCa). This study therefore assessed the level of resilience and associatedfactors in Nigerian MPCa. A descriptive quantitative cross-sectional design was used. Participants in the study were randomly sampled from amongst MPCa receiving treatment at four urology clinics in Nigeria. Data was collected using instruments that assessed demographic and health information, resilience, social support and coping strategies. Descriptive statistics, correlation and linear regression were used for data analyses. A total of 173 MPCa participated in this study. Their mean age was 71.57±11.18 and 51.4% of them were within 1-4years since diagnosis. The family (80.4%) was the most common source of social support and religious coping (79.7%) was the most commonly used coping style. Perceived social support from family and significant others as well as approach and religious coping strategies had significant linear relationship with resilience (p<0.05). Time since diagnosis and avoidance coping strategy had significant inverse relationship with resilience (p<0.05). Linear regression analysis revealed that the significant predictors of resilience in MPCa were approach, avoidance and humour coping styles (p<0.05) as well as social support from family (p<0.01) and time since diagnosis (p<0.05). Resilience in MPCa may be enhanced through interventions with components that target enhancing family support, promoting the use of adaptive coping strategies and delivered at specified time points as patients receive care.