Autor(es):
Ramos, Catarina 
; Leal, Isabel Pereira
Data: 2013
Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/2482
Origem: Repositório do ISPA - Instituto Universitário
Assunto(s): Posttraumatic growth; Benefit finding; Psychological trauma; Literature review
Descrição
Aim: In the face of one traumatic event, individuals may perceive, along with the inherent negative responses, a number of positive changes,
which reveal posttraumatic growth. This concept has increased its expression in literature over the years, and it has been recognized that
people exposed to highly traumatic events, such as bereavement, war combat, disasters, disease or other stressful or life-threatening events,
may perceive positive changes from the struggling with those events. Thus, this literature review aims at exploring the definition of posttraumatic
growth, associated factors and application contexts. Method and Results: Electronic databases were used to search the relevant literature.
Based on the analysis of empirical data, were found several studies that demonstrated a range of factors, such as distress, personality
characteristics, self-disclosure, coping, social support, environmental characteristics, assumptive world, rumination, spirituality and optimism,
that have contributed to the development of posttraumatic growth; however, some relationships remain inconclusive. Conclusion: Further
research is required, to clarify the genesis and the development of posttraumatic growth, also, to extend the posttraumatic growth studies in
health context, encompassing the patient as well as family and social network.
