Trajectories of posttraumatic growth in young and middle-aged stroke patients and their predictive effects on mental health

BACKGROUND The increasingly younger age of stroke onset has posed a serious threat to the physical and mental health of young and middle-aged adults. Young and middle-aged stroke patients often suffer from varying degrees of motor, cognitive, and language disabilities, which can trigger considerable psychological trauma. However, these patients may have certain posttraumatic growth (PTG). As a positive psychological experience, PTG provides a new entry point for clinical psychological interventions. Here, we explored the trajectories of PTG in young and middle-aged stroke patients and their predictive effects on mental health. METHODS A total of in 165 patients who were treated at our center from January to December 2019 were enrolled with randomized sampling. The survey was conducted at 5 times follow up through use of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), and Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90). Data were analyzed by using the latent growth mixture modeling (LGMM). RESULTS The PTG levels in young and middle-aged stroke patients showed a gradual increase (F=9.927; P<0.01). According to the relevant parameters of the trajectories, the subjects were divided into the high PTG group (n=43, 26.06%), low PTG group (n=25, 15.15%), rapidly increasing PTG group (n=47, 28.48%), and constantly decreasing PTG group (n=50 cases, 30.30%). Both the initial level and developmental rate of PTG had significantly negative predictive effects on SCL-90 score (B=-0.46, P<0.01; B=-0.31, P<0.01); in other words, they had positive predictive effects on mental health. CONCLUSIONS There are different trajectories of PTG in young and middle-aged stroke patients, and the initial level and developmental speed of PTG have positive predictive effects on mental health in these patients.