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A Qualitative Analysis of the Experiences of Young Patients and Caregivers Confronting Pediatric and Adolescent Oncology Diagnosis

Epidemiological studies show that new cases of young oncology patients are increasing by 400,000 every year. Psychological literature has shown that receiving an oncological diagnosis can cause significant psychological stress and discomfort. However, the experiences of young patients and their care...

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Autores principales: Testoni, Ines, Nicoletti, Anna Elena, Moscato, Matilde, De Vincenzo, Ciro
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10378996/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37510561
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20146327
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author Testoni, Ines
Nicoletti, Anna Elena
Moscato, Matilde
De Vincenzo, Ciro
author_facet Testoni, Ines
Nicoletti, Anna Elena
Moscato, Matilde
De Vincenzo, Ciro
author_sort Testoni, Ines
collection PubMed
description Epidemiological studies show that new cases of young oncology patients are increasing by 400,000 every year. Psychological literature has shown that receiving an oncological diagnosis can cause significant psychological stress and discomfort. However, the experiences of young patients and their caregivers as they confront this challenge are not yet fully understood. This paper adopts a qualitative methodological approach to explore how young patients with an oncological diagnosis and their parents make sense of the experiential challenges they face. Thus, the research realized 18 semi-structured interviews, 11 of which were with pediatric and adolescent oncology patients, and 7 of which were with 6 mothers and 1 father. The qualitative thematic analysis revealed that the oncological diagnosis triggers different emotions taking the scene in the attempt to cope with the threats of meaning that the diagnosis poses. However, such intense experience promotes transformative feelings in parents and young patients, leading to important personal growth. Lastly, this article discusses the need to improve palliative psychological care competences in pediatric oncology. By providing comprehensive psychological care to young oncology patients and their families, healthcare providers can mitigate the psychological stress and pain associated with the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
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spelling pubmed-103789962023-07-29 A Qualitative Analysis of the Experiences of Young Patients and Caregivers Confronting Pediatric and Adolescent Oncology Diagnosis Testoni, Ines Nicoletti, Anna Elena Moscato, Matilde De Vincenzo, Ciro Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Epidemiological studies show that new cases of young oncology patients are increasing by 400,000 every year. Psychological literature has shown that receiving an oncological diagnosis can cause significant psychological stress and discomfort. However, the experiences of young patients and their caregivers as they confront this challenge are not yet fully understood. This paper adopts a qualitative methodological approach to explore how young patients with an oncological diagnosis and their parents make sense of the experiential challenges they face. Thus, the research realized 18 semi-structured interviews, 11 of which were with pediatric and adolescent oncology patients, and 7 of which were with 6 mothers and 1 father. The qualitative thematic analysis revealed that the oncological diagnosis triggers different emotions taking the scene in the attempt to cope with the threats of meaning that the diagnosis poses. However, such intense experience promotes transformative feelings in parents and young patients, leading to important personal growth. Lastly, this article discusses the need to improve palliative psychological care competences in pediatric oncology. By providing comprehensive psychological care to young oncology patients and their families, healthcare providers can mitigate the psychological stress and pain associated with the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. MDPI 2023-07-08 /pmc/articles/PMC10378996/ /pubmed/37510561 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20146327 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Testoni, Ines
Nicoletti, Anna Elena
Moscato, Matilde
De Vincenzo, Ciro
A Qualitative Analysis of the Experiences of Young Patients and Caregivers Confronting Pediatric and Adolescent Oncology Diagnosis
title A Qualitative Analysis of the Experiences of Young Patients and Caregivers Confronting Pediatric and Adolescent Oncology Diagnosis
title_full A Qualitative Analysis of the Experiences of Young Patients and Caregivers Confronting Pediatric and Adolescent Oncology Diagnosis
title_fullStr A Qualitative Analysis of the Experiences of Young Patients and Caregivers Confronting Pediatric and Adolescent Oncology Diagnosis
title_full_unstemmed A Qualitative Analysis of the Experiences of Young Patients and Caregivers Confronting Pediatric and Adolescent Oncology Diagnosis
title_short A Qualitative Analysis of the Experiences of Young Patients and Caregivers Confronting Pediatric and Adolescent Oncology Diagnosis
title_sort qualitative analysis of the experiences of young patients and caregivers confronting pediatric and adolescent oncology diagnosis
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10378996/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37510561
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20146327
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