Abstract: Objective To explore the effect of optimism on the psychological toughness of the elderly patients with gastric cancer. Methods A questionnaire survey was performed on 138 elderly patients with gastric cancer treated in Jiangsu Province Hospital from March 2017 to October 2019. The effective questionnaire recovery rate was 95. 65% (132/138). The general information of the patients was collected through questionnaires, and the psychological resilience was assessed with Chinese version of Psychological Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), optimism was assessed with life-oriented test revised version (LOT-R), social support was assessed with adopted social Support scale (SSQ) assessment, self-efficacy was assessed with General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES). Pearson correlation was used to analyze the correlation between psychological toughness and optimism, social support, and self-efficacy. Multivariate regression analysis was used to analyze the factors affecting psychological toughness. Path analysis was used to analyze the effects of optimism on psychological toughness. Results The psychological toughness was positively correlated with optimism, social support, and self-efficacy in the elderly patients with gastric cancer. The results of multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that LOT-R score, SSQ score, and GSES score were the influencing factors of self-resilience. The influencing path model of self-resilience showed that social support and self-efficacy had a direct effect on mental toughness, while optimism had both direct and indirect effects on mental toughness. Conclusions Optimism has a direct impact on the psychological resilience in the elderly patients with gastric cancer.

Key words: gastric cancer, optimism, psychological toughness, social support, self-efficacy, influencing path