The importance of being there: perspectives of social support by adolescents with cancer

Title

The importance of being there: perspectives of social support by adolescents with cancer

Creator

Woodgate RL

Publisher

Journal Of Pediatric Oncology Nursing

Date

2006

Subject

Adolescent Psychology; Adaptation; PedPal Lit; Psychological Adolescent; Attitude to Health Family/psychology Female Focus Groups Friends/psychology Helping Behavior Humans; Interpersonal Relations Life Change Events Longitudinal Studies Male Manitoba Morale Neoplasms/; Non-U.S. Gov't Social Support; psychology Nurse-Patient Relations Nursing Methodology Research Oncologic Nursing Qualitative Research Questionnaires Research Support

Description

Adolescents with cancer are confronted with many challenges. The extent to which they are able to deal with such challenges appears to be partly contingent on a positive strong social support system. In this article, the author describes findings specific to the sources of social support that 15 adolescents with cancer found to be most important in getting them through the cancer experience. Data were collected as part of a longitudinal qualitative interpretive study and involved individual interviews, focus group interviews, and participant observation as the main sources of data. The relationships that adolescents maintained with their nuclear families, health care team members, and special friends were the 3 main supportive relationships in the adolescents'lives. The act of others "being there" was seen by the adolescents as the key element of a supportive relationship and involved 6 main behaviors. Although the 3 key supportive relationships were essential in helping adolescents get through cancer, these relationships were at times a source of stress for adolescents.
2006

Rights

Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

Type

Journal Article

Citation List Month

Backlog

Citation

Woodgate RL, “The importance of being there: perspectives of social support by adolescents with cancer,” Pediatric Palliative Care Library, accessed March 19, 2024, https://pedpalascnetlibrary.omeka.net/items/show/13385.