When Cancer Is the Self: An Interpretive Description of the Experience of Identity by Hematology Cancer Patients.
Jennifer M L Stephens, Sally Thorne
PMID 34352803WHAT IT FOUND
Adults with blood cancers rejected the generic label cancer and named their exact diagnosis.
They described the invisible, cellular disease as invading or becoming part of self, and they personified cells to regain a sense of control.
Key findings
01Participants avoided the generic word cancer and named their specific blood cancer type.
02Participants described blood cancer as invisible and without a body location, and all felt existential pain about its abstract, unseen nature.
03All participants described personifying cells into beings that could be named, talked to, bargained with, or rationalized as a way to cope.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study included only 14 English-speaking adults with hematological cancers, so the themes may not apply to patients who speak other languages, have solid tumors, or have other cancers. Sampling was convenience and purposeful, and the authors say the sample will not have captured all possible identity-making options. Seven participants had stem cell transplantation, and the authors note this could influence identity, but the data did not show a clear difference between transplant and non-transplant participants. Because it is qualitative, it reports how patients described experience, not whether any nursing action improved outcomes.
Declared interests
The paper reports funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Athabasca University, and the authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat asking patients what to call them, using specific labels, or linking them to exact-subtype peers as interventions proven to improve outcomes. The study reports themes from 14 patients and does not test whether these actions changed any patient result.