This is what life with cancer looks like: exploring experiences of adolescent and young adults with cancer using two visual approaches (original) (raw)
Related papers
2016
This study explored adult childhood cancer survivors’ experiences with illness and survival. Currently, there is an abundance of medical and physiological research regarding childhood cancer survival into adulthood, including the physical late effects of the disease treatment. There is, however, a limited understanding of if and how childhood cancer survivors make meaning of their illness and how this contributes to their psychosocial functioning, including posttraumatic stress and/or posttraumatic growth. Using a qualitative technique known as photovoice, participants of this study described their experiences with illness and survival via visual story telling. A total of 8 (7 females, 1 male) adult survivors of childhood cancer completed the photovoice protocol and a team of researchers engaged in an interpretive phenomenological analysis of the verbal and visual data. Three themes with accompanying subthemes were identified and include biopsychosocial stressors, meaning-making, an...
Tumorial: Video Tutorials Produced by Young Patients on the Youth Project to Voice Their Experiences
Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology, 2020
Purpose: Adolescent and young adult patients of the Milan's Youth Project developed a new communication project aimed at young people with cancer: in a series of video tutorials called Tumorial, they talk about their day-today experiences, offering ''survival tricks'' to their peers. Methods: The project was developed during group meetings taking place every week in a dedicated room near the ward. Each meeting focused on a single topic and was led by the patients themselves, who talked about their experiences; staff members moderated the discussion and took notes, which was used as script for a video, recorded by one patient as a spokesperson. All the videos had English subtitles. Results: The project was implemented between March 2018 and June 2019 and involved 53 teenagers and young adults (15-27 years), 33 receiving treatment and 20 in follow-up when the project began. There were 23 video tutorials produced in all, with various topics, for example, school, sex, hair, privacy, social networks, fuck-ups to avoid, scars, ward companions. The videos are published on the Youth Project's YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR0EVeYMAjgJlN95tSc\_iPA). Conclusion: This innovative approach to communication in the world of oncological disease in the young can be a useful tool as part of their course of care. It appears of great importance considering that social networksand YouTube in particular-frequently provide unreliable or useless information. In making the project, patients told their innermost feelings, promoting cohesion among them. Patients and caregivers developed the project together in a significant example of cooperation.
This paper introduces a methodological approach that was utilized when the textual material and life tree drawings of young adults with cancer were analyzed as an interwoven ensemble. In order to take the visuals seriously, the article focuses on visual narrative analysis in order to give a clear description of how the drawings were analyzed as narratives. New insights are gained when the analysis process is introduced step by step as a genuine combination of narrative textual and visual analysis. Finally, the drawings reveal new layers of experiences in a form of metaphors that reflect support, self, body, and time.
A Case Study "A Life with and beyond Cancer
Journal of Palliative Care & Medicine, 2016
Purpose: Developing an intervention with photography to support patients in their search for a meaningful and valued life with their disease.
Child: Care, Health and Development, 2015
Background Health promotion for children with cancer should be based on the children's own needs and desires. Because there is a lack of knowledge in this area, the aim of this study was to explore what promotes health from the perspective of children with experience of cancer treatment. Methods Fifteen children between 8 and 12 years of age participated in focus groups with three children in each group. The children were given a camera and instructions to photograph subjects that promote their health. Focus group discussions were based on the photographs and the children's own description of those photographs. The analysis of focus group discussions and photographs was conducted using inductive content analysis. Results According to the children, health-promoting factors are defined as meaningful relationships, recreational activities and a trustful environment. Meaningful relationships include togetherness within the family, affection for pets and friendship with peers. Recreational activities include engagement in play and leisure, withdrawal for relaxation and feeling enjoyment. Trustful environment includes confidence in significant others and feeling safe. Conclusions Knowledge from this study can contribute to health promotion interventions and quality improvements in the health care of children with experience of cancer treatment. Children's experiences with what promotes health in their everyday lives provide a better understanding of the type of support children prefer when promoting their own health.
Using Photographs to Capture Women's Experiences of Chemotherapy: Reflecting on the Method
Qualitative Health Research, 2007
This article examines the value of using the photo-elicitation method for generating health-related narratives. Drawing on research in which women kept a photographic record of their experiences of chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer, this research explored how this method (a) produced elaborate accounts of illness experiences through an exploration of the process of representing experiences and through an interrogation of the images themselves; (b) allowed an opportunity to capture experiences over time and a way of capturing the past, which can then be reexplored from the present; (c) enabled patients to retain control over their images of themselves and how they choose to represent their experiences; and (d) provided a window into the private, everyday experiences of patients away from a health care setting.
Aesthetic expressions as data in researching the lived-world of children with advanced cancer
Belitung Nursing Journal, 2021
Background: Understanding the true world of children needs a special method. Using aesthetic expressions through artworks with reflections assists nurse researchers in exploring children’s feelings, thoughts, and behaviors in relation to their health and well-being. Objective: This article focuses on the use of aesthetic expressions as innovative data sources in a study of the lived worlds of children experiencing advanced cancer. Method: The use of aesthetic expressions in Gadamerian hermeneutic phenomenology and aesthetics, by means of van Manen’s approach using draw and write, is examined as a suitable approach in a study of the lived worlds of children experiencing advanced cancer. Results: The aesthetic expressions through the Draw-and-Write method of data generation were well-suited to a hermeneutic phenomenological study involving the group of Filipino children living with advanced cancer. The children drew images and figures of themselves, their families, classmates, friends...