Games of lives in surviving childhood brain tumors

West J Nurs Res. 2008 Jun;30(4):435-57. doi: 10.1177/0193945907303050. Epub 2007 Sep 25.

Abstract

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the commonality of the lived experience of adolescent and young adult survivors (AYAS) of brain tumors in Taiwan from a sociocultural perspective. Seven AYAS aged 13 to 22 years, who had survived 5 to 10 years from the time of diagnosis, participated in this study. In consideration of their emotional duress, each participant was interviewed only once. The data revealed an essential structure: the game of life. The essential structure included six themes as follows: (a) no longer playing well, (b) wandering on the outer edges of social life, (c) helplessly struggling with role obligations, (d) rationally regulating the meaning of surviving, (e) winning a new social face, and (f) mastering the game of life. The findings suggest how nurses might help AYAS to succeed in psychosocial adjustment.

MeSH terms

  • Adaptation, Psychological*
  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Attitude to Health / ethnology*
  • Brain Neoplasms / ethnology*
  • Brain Neoplasms / prevention & control
  • Child
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Interpersonal Relations
  • Life Change Events
  • Male
  • Nursing Methodology Research
  • Peer Group
  • Prejudice
  • Psychology, Adolescent
  • Psychology, Child
  • Qualitative Research
  • Quality of Life / psychology
  • Role
  • Self Concept*
  • Social Behavior
  • Social Isolation
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Survivors / psychology*
  • Taiwan