Thematic Evidence of Psychosocial Thriving in Childhood Cancer Survivors

Abstract

Advances in medical treatment for childhood cancer have resulted in dramatically increased survival rates and a growing population of long-term survivors. Until recently, researchers reported primarily negative psychosocial sequelae of childhood cancer. Emergent conceptual frameworks propose that the assumption of pathology or long-term deficits in functioning might obscure an understanding of the full range of outcomes. Using qualitative interview data (N = 50), the authors explore how cancer can lead to positive psychosocial outcomes, including thriving. The findings suggest that processes of coping, meaning making, and psychospiritual growth are intimately related to long-term psychosocial well-being. The results suggest that in the aftermath of a trauma such as childhood cancer, many outcomes are possible, including thriving.

Health-Related Quality of Life of Young Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancer: A Review of Qualitative Studies

“…38 The majority of the studies utilized Grounded Theory 40 for data analysis. 25,28,[31][32][33][36][37][38][39] HRQOL issues for YASCC Domains and sub-domains of HRQOL that we identified in the present review are presented in Table 2. Consistent with the City of Hope framework [7][8][9] and the QOL-CS tool, 9 we found that physical, psychological, social, and spiritual issues are reported by YASCC.…”

“…The majority of the studies included both males and females. [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] Three studies did not indicate the gender distribution, [35][36][37] and the remaining two studies reported the inclusion of either all females 38 or all males. 39 The age of participants included in the studies ranged from 13 to 38 years old at the time of interview.…”

“…39 The age of participants included in the studies ranged from 13 to 38 years old at the time of interview. Six studies reported the participants' time since diagnosis, 26,27,29,31,32,34 which ranged between 1 and 36 years, and one study 36 indicated only that participants were at least five years postdiagnosis. Most studies consisted of survivors of various cancer diagnoses, although two focused on only one specific cancer type (brain cancer or leukemia) 24,35 and one did not indicate the cancer type.…”

Character strengths of adolescent survivors of childhood cancer

“…The development of specific character strengths may be seen as one such outcome. Peterson et al (2006:23) reported that adults who survived illness showed some character strengths to be relatively higher than those of healthy adults, and other researchers reported positive outcomes such as post-traumatic growth (Barakat et al 2005:413-419), thriving (Parry & Chesler 2005:1055 and flourishing (Phipps 2007(Phipps :1063 to emerge in the aftermath of childhood cancer. A similar pattern was thus expected in this study.…”

“…Existing research on children and adolescent survivors suggest that there are many positive changes after successful cancer treatment (Kazak et al 1996:365) and that adolescents often report posttraumatic growth as reflected in positive changes in self, relationships with others and plans for the future (Barakat et al 2005:413). Some research even suggests that thriving (in a psychological sense) is a possible outcome of childhood cancer survival (Parry & Chesler 2005:1055. Recently, Phipps (2007Phipps ( :1063 argued that more attention should be given to positive emotional states in research with this population.…”