Objective To explore the relationships among post traumatic stress disorder(PTSD),gratitude and posttraumatic growth (PTG) for terminal cancer patients.Methods Totally 119 advanced cancer patients were investigated with the self-demographic questionnaire,posttraumatic growth inventory (PTGI),the PTSD cheeklist-civilian version (PCL-C) and the Gratitude Questionnaire-6 (GQ-6).Results For terminal cancer patients,the total score of PCL-C was 34.02±12.49.The scores on re-experience,avoidance/numbness,hypervigilance were 9.79±3.78,13.85±5.68,10.36±3.80.The total score of gratitude was 29.37±7.48.The total score of PTG was 51.34± 13.57.The scores of life appreciation,personal relationship and self-strength were 8.00± 2.99,21.18± 5.84,22.16± 6.10.The total scores of PTG were significantly statistical significance among different PTSD groups(F=16.267,P＜0.01)and gratitude groups(F=43.674,P＜0.0 1).The total scores of PCL-C (r=-0.694,P＜0.01),re-experience (r=-0.664,P＜0.01),avoidance/numbness (r=-0.671,P＜0.01),hypervigilance (r=0.753,P＜0.01) and gratitude(r=-0.611,P＜0.01) were all correlated with PTG.The total score of PCL-C and gratitude could explain 66.6％ variation of PTG.For the relationship between PTSD and PTG,the moderation effect of gratitude was not significant (P ＞0.05).Conclusion The gratitude and PTSD were important influence factors for terminal cancer patients' PTG,while the moderation effect of gratitude was not significant,so in clinical intervention we should pay more attentions to the actual effects of gratitude,and we should not pursuit gratitude education blindly.