Exploration of psychological distress experienced by survivors of adolescent cancer reporting a need for psychological support

OBJECTIVE: In this qualitative study, we aimed to provide an in-depth exploration of cancer-related psychological distress experienced by young survivors of cancer during adolescence reporting a need for psychological support. METHODS: Two individual interviews were held with ten young survivors of cancer diagnosed in adolescence. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Analysis followed the guidelines for inductive qualitative manifest content analysis. RESULTS: The survivors described distress experienced during and after the end of treatment. Five categories comprising 14 subcategories were generated. The categories included: A tough treatment, Marked and hindered, Not feeling good enough, Struggling with the fragility of life, and finally, An ongoing battle with emotions. CONCLUSION: Young survivors of adolescent cancer reporting a need for psychological support described feeling physically, socially, and mentally marked by the cancer experience. They struggled with powerlessness, insecurity, social disconnection, loneliness, and feelings of being unimportant and a failure, and had difficulties understanding and managing their experiences. These concerns should be addressed in psychological treatments for the population irrespective of which approach or model is used to understand survivors’ difficulties. A trans-diagnostic approach targeting processes that underpin different manifestations of distress may be effective.