Interconnection: A qualitative analysis of adjusting to living with renal cell carcinoma.
Palliat Support Care
; 16(2): 146-154, 2018 04.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28262086
ABSTRACT
ABSTRACTObjective:
Adjusting to cancer is an ongoing process, yet few studies explore this adjustment from a qualitative perspective. The aim of our qualitative study was to understand how patients construct their experience of adjusting to living with cancer.METHOD:
Qualitative analysis was conducted of written narratives collected from four separate writing sessions as part of a larger expressive writing clinical trial with renal cell carcinoma patients. Thematic analysis and constant comparison were employed to code the primary patterns in the data into themes until thematic saturation was reached at 37 participants. A social constructivist perspective informed data interpretation.RESULTS:
Interconnection described the overarching theme underlying the process of adjusting to cancer and involved four interrelated themes (1) discontinuity-feelings of disconnection and loss following diagnosis; (2) reorientation-to the reality of cancer psychologically and physically; (3) rebuilding-struggling through existential distress to reconnect; and (4) expansion-finding meaning in interconnections with others. Participants related a dialectical movement in which disruption and loss catalyzed an ongoing process of finding meaning. SIGNIFICANCE OFRESULTS:
Our findings suggest that adjusting to living with cancer is an ongoing, iterative, nonlinear process. The dynamic interactions between the different themes in this process describe the transformation of meaning as participants move through and revisit prior themes in response to fluctuating symptoms and medical news. It is important that clinicians recognize the dynamic and ongoing process of adjusting to cancer to support patients in addressing their unmet psychosocial needs throughout the changing illness trajectory.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Quality of Life
/
Adaptation, Psychological
/
Carcinoma, Renal Cell
Type of study:
Clinical_trials
/
Etiology_studies
/
Qualitative_research
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Palliat Support Care
Journal subject:
TERAPEUTICA
Year:
2018
Type:
Article