scholarly journals “It’s Hard to Talk When Your Child Has a Life Threatening Illness”: A Qualitative Study of Couples Whose Child Is Diagnosed With Cancer

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 398-407
Author(s):  
An Hooghe ◽  
Paul C. Rosenblatt ◽  
Trui Vercruysse ◽  
Veerle Cosyns ◽  
Karolien Lambrecht ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Diagnosis ◽  
Emotional Impact ◽  
Emotional Communication ◽  
Open Communication ◽  
Couple Communication ◽  
Life Threatening Illness ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Treatment Context ◽  
Self Protection ◽  
Depth Interviews

When parents are confronted with something as fundamental as a cancer diagnosis for their child, it is generally assumed that sharing the emotional impact of it, in the form of talking about it with the partner, is helpful and necessary to cope as an individual and a couple. However, couple communication in the context of childhood oncology is often challenging. In this qualitative research, we aimed for a better understanding of how partners experience their couple communication during treatment of their child. Thematic coding was done on in-depth interviews with 16 parents (7 couples interviewed together and 2 mothers). We found that the circumstances of the treatment period affected couple communication. In the interviews, parents provided three main meanings to their limited talking: (a) because of the hospital and treatment context; (b) for self-care/self-protection related to the value of blocking emotions; and (c) because of each other. These findings invite us to rethink emotional closeness being equated with frequent or intense emotional communication in couples with a child who has cancer. This research, framed in a dialectic approach, emphasizes the value of both talking and not talking in the tense and challenging couple situation of dealing with a child’s cancer diagnosis and treatment. Rather than advocating for the general promotion of open communication, our study suggests the value of hesitations to talk at certain points in the process, while also taking into account the degree of marital difficulties in offering interventions aimed at improving couple communication.

The Family Talk Intervention in palliative home care when a parent with dependent children has a life-threatening illness: A feasibility study from parents’ perspectives

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anette Alvariza ◽  
Li Jalmsell ◽  
Rakel Eklund ◽  
Malin Lövgren ◽  
Ulrika Kreicbergs
Keyword(s):  
Home Care ◽  
Professional Competence ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Open Communication ◽  
Palliative Home Care ◽  
Dependent Children ◽  
Disease Trajectory ◽  
Life Threatening Illness ◽  
The Family ◽  
Life Threatening

Abstract Objective One of the main goals of the Family Talk Intervention (FTI) is to increase communication within families with dependent children about illness-related consequences and to support parenting. FTI is family-centered and includes six manual-based meetings led by two interventionists. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of the FTI in terms of acceptability from the perspective of parents in families with dependent children where one parent receives specialized palliative home care. Method A descriptive design employing mixed methods was used to evaluate the FTI in specialized palliative home care. In total, 29 parents participated in interviews and responded to a questionnaire following FTI. Qualitative content analysis and descriptive statistics were used for analyses. Results FTI responded to both the ill parent's and the healthy co-parent's expectations, and they recommended FTI to other families. Parents found the design of FTI to be well-structured and flexible according to their families’ needs. Many parents reported a wish for additional meetings and would have wanted FTI to start earlier in the disease trajectory. Parents also would have wished for a more thorough briefing with the interventionists to prepare before the start. The importance of the interventionists was acknowledged by the parents; their professional competence, engagement, and support were vital for finding ways to open communication within the family. The FTI meetings provided them with a setting to share thoughts and views. Parents clearly expressed that they would never have shared thoughts and feelings in a similar way without the meetings. Significance of results According to parents, FTI was found acceptable in a palliative home care context with the potential to add valuable support for families with minor children when a parent is suffering from a life-threatening illness.

scholarly journals Shaken Identities, Reserve Masculine Capital, and the Lived Experiences of Aging Men with Breast Cancer

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 692-692
Author(s):  
Edward Thompson ◽  
Renee Beard
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Cancer Diagnosis ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Hormonal Treatment ◽  
Breast Cancer Diagnosis ◽  
The Body ◽  
Life Threatening Illness ◽  
Aging Men ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Body Self

Abstract A question that begs to be examined is: How does aging men’s discovery they have breasts as a result of their breast cancer diagnosis and having a breast removed through a mastectomy, affect their masculine subjectivities and practices, as they also go about also living with a life-threatening illness? The present study aimed to better understand how men come to live with the knowledge that they have both breasts and cancer. Interviews with seventeen men in the U.S. (mean age 62.8) with a breast cancer diagnosis, mastectomy, and, most often, post-surgical hormonal treatment uncovered stories of body-self disruption and identity dilemmas. All the men’s identities had been shaken. After their mastectomy, they were reminded every morning that the body reflected in the mirror differed significantly from who they once were. Their stories revealed strategic themes: how they lived with cancer by slightly modifying conventional masculinities; and how others interacted with them, with the exception of mammography technologists, in terms of their gender, not their atypical illness. Only a few men initially felt their breast cancer was a gendered stigma. Noticeable was how the historical era when diagnosed and the age of the man at diagnosis contextualized their illness stories. In this presentation, three cases are used to exemplify the men’s varied experiences with their non-normative bodies and their commonality in finding reserves of masculine capital to rebuke the existential loneliness of a man with breast cancer.

Communicating with children when a parent is dying

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia W. Moore ◽  
Paula K. Rauch
Keyword(s):  
Child Development ◽  
Developmental Stage ◽  
Open Communication ◽  
Dependent Children ◽  
Life Threatening Illness ◽  
Parents And Children ◽  
Different Ages ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Communicating With Children

Concerns about dependent children are prominent, and distressing, for parents diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. Helping parents feel prepared to talk with children about their illness and possible death, at any stage of illness, has the potential to alleviate distress in both parents and children. This chapter provides a summary of how children at different ages understand and respond to a death, and offers suggestions about how clinicians can support parents’ open communication with their children about illness and death, based on the child’s developmental stage, and phase of illness and treatment. Clinicians can start by making the effort to ask parents about their children, to learn a bit about child development, and to identify or create some resources for these families.

Review of Adapting to Life-Threatening Illness.

1987 ◽  
Vol 32 (10) ◽  
pp. 906-906
Author(s):  
No authorship indicated
Keyword(s):  
Life Threatening Illness ◽  
Life Threatening

Life-threatening Illness as Precursor to Posttraumatic Growth

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence G. Calhoun ◽  
◽  
Jay Azarow ◽  
Tzipi Weiss ◽  
Joel Millam
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Growth ◽  
Life Threatening Illness ◽  
Life Threatening

Sophistry and Circumstance at the End of Life

2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-88
Author(s):  
Philip Berry
Keyword(s):  
Liver Failure ◽  
Medical Personnel ◽  
Medical Decision ◽  
Loss Of Consciousness ◽  
Supportive Treatment ◽  
Medical Decisions ◽  
Life Threatening Illness ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Counselling Process

When life-threatening illness robs a patient of the ability to express their desires, medical personnel must work through the issues of management and prognosis with relatives. Management decisions are guided by medical judgement and the relatives’ account of the patient’s wishes, but difficulties occur when distance grows between these two factors. In these circumstances the counselling process may turn into a doctor-led justification of the medical decision. This article presents two strands of dialogue, in which a doctor, counselling for and against continuation of supportive treatment in two patients with liver failure, demonstrates selectivity and inconsistency in constructing an argument. The specific issues of loss of consciousness (with obscuration of personal identity), statistical ‘futility’ and removal of autonomy are explored and used to bolster diametrically opposed medical decisions. By examining the doctor’s ability to interpret these issues according to circumstance, the author demonstrates how it is possible to shade medical facts depending on the desired outcome.

Behavioral Emergencies and Crises

2010 ◽  
pp. 739-762
Author(s):  
Phillip M. Kleespies ◽  
Justin M. Hill
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Risk Factors ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Work Environment ◽  
Emotional Impact ◽  
High Risk Patients ◽  
Risk Patients ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Behavioral Emergencies ◽  
And Training

This chapter illustrates the mental health clinician’s relationship with behavioral emergencies. The chapter begins by distinguishing the terms behavioral emergency and behavioral crisis, and underlying themes among all behavioral emergencies are identified. Given that most clinicians will face a behavioral emergency in their careers, the importance of enhancing the process of educating and training practitioners for such situations far beyond the minimal training that currently exists is highlighted. The chapter continues by exploring various aspects of evaluating and managing high-risk patients (i.e., those who exhibit violent tendencies toward themselves or others, and those at risk for victimization). It includes a discussion of the benefits and limitations to estimating life-threatening risk factors and specific protective factors. The chapter concludes by discussing the emotional impact that working with high-risk patients has on clinicians, and an emphasis is placed on the importance of creating a supportive work environment.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document