The Experiences of Adolescents' Suffering from Cancer: Breaking out of the withdrawn Ego

Kim, Yoon Jung; Kwon, Hye Jin

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to describe and explore the experience of adolescents with cancer.
METHODS
This study was based on the grounded theory by Strauss & Corbin (1998). The subjects were 13 adolescents including in and out-patients of a university hospital diagnosed with cancer.
RESULTS
'Getting changed' and 'getting deviated' were found to be the causal conditions. 'Inclination', 'self-reliance', and 'hope' were identified as contextual conditions, 'shrinking feeling' as the core phenomenon, 'awareness of disease', 'self-consciousness', and 'getting understanding and love' as intervening conditions, 'negligence', 'separation', 'self-management', and 'inspiration' as the strategies and 'being shirk', 'getting back', and 'going forward' as consequences. 'Breaking out of the withdrawn ego' was the core category in this study.
CONCLUSION
This study provides a framework for the development of individualized nursing interventions for 'Breaking out of the withdrawn ego' to care for adolescents with cancer. Finally adolescents with cancer are 'reborn' with a more mature ego.