Meaning Making and Religious Engagement Among Survivors of Childhood Brain Tumors and Their Caregivers.
Em Rabelais, Nora L Jones, Connie M Ulrich and 1 others
PMID 30767968WHAT IT FOUND
40 brain tumor survivor and mother-caregiver pairs made sense of the tumor most often by saying the survivor was still alive.
They described more neutral or negative consequences than benefits, and 38 volunteered a religious identity.
Key findings
01Survivors and mother-caregivers most often made sense of the brain tumor by saying the survivor is still alive.
02Within each profile, dyads discussed neutral or negative consequences 2.25 to 3.5 times more than benefits.
0338 dyads volunteered a religious identity, Christian in all but one, and religious framing was coded as nonreligious, explanation, or cause.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was a secondary analysis of interviews not originally designed to ask about meaning making or religion, so participants were not directly asked to explain those experiences. The researchers could not re-interview participants to check whether their interpretations matched what participants meant. Only mother-caregivers were included, and some families were excluded, such as survivors with certain genetic causes, pre-cancer intellectual disability, partnered survivors, and non-English speakers. Because many dyads were very religious, their talk about meaning may have been shaped by how they wanted to present their faith. The study cannot show whether religion came before the tumor or intensified during treatment or survivorship; those questions were not asked.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not include an author conflict-of-interest declaration. The article is tagged as receiving NIH extramural research support and non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that religious engagement improves or harms survivorship outcomes. This was a secondary qualitative analysis, not a tested intervention.