iStock.com/Xavier Lorenzo

A recent study was carried out to investigate evidence that “positive emotions play a critical role in coping with chronic stress” in patients with lung cancer undergoing immunotherapy, with the goal of examining “the mediating roles of perceived life threat and coping strategies in the relationship between positive emotions and chronic stress, based on the Revised Stress and Coping model.”

A team of researchers from China conducted the study and published their findings in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research. They performed “a comprehensive examination of the associations among positive emotions, cognitive appraisal, coping strategies, and chronic stress” to provide “evidence-based insights for developing psychological interventions.”

A total of 322 patients with lung cancer receiving immunotherapy were recruited for the cross-sectional study and “positive emotions, perceived life threat, coping strategies, and chronic stress levels were assessed using the Positive Affect Scale, the Perceived Life Threat Scale, the Cancer Coping Modes Questionnaire, and the Perceived Stress Scale, respectively.”

The study was conducted between September 2024 and June 2025 “within a tertiary hospital’s oncology department” in Jiangsu, China.

According to the results, positive emotions “had a significant negative” association with chronic stress, and path analyses demonstrated that “positive emotions were indirectly associated with chronic stress through perceived life threat and specific coping strategies.”

The investigators highlighted the specific coping strategies identified in the study, including “avoidance and repression (indirect effect = −0.038, 95% CI [−0.059, −0.020]), resignation (indirect effect = −0.041, 95% CI [−0.073, −0.018]), and catharsis coping strategies (indirect effect = −0.026, 95% CI [−0.044, −0.010]).”

“Perceived life threat and coping strategies were statistically associated with how positive emotions relate to chronic stress in lung cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy,” the researchers concluded. “These findings align with theoretical models and may inform potential intervention targets to support clinical nursing practice.”