title: A model of the family transition to living with childhood cancer.
abstract: The major objective of this longitudinal, grounded theory study was to describe the family transition to living with childhood cancer, from the family's point of view, when a child is diagnosed with cancer with a favorable prognosis (long-term survival rate greater than 60%). A convenience sample consisting of 40 members of seven families with a child recently diagnosed with cancer was recruited for the study. Data collection consisted of three tape-recorded, semi-structured interviews with family members in the home. A model of the family transition in response to the diagnosis of childhood cancer was developed. This transition was characterized by a fracturing of reality at the realization of the malignant nature of the illness; a period of limbo, characterized by uncertainty after the diagnosis; utilization of strategies to reconstruct reality; and construction of a "new normal" for the family, during which the nature of uncertainty changed, but did persist.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Clarke-Steffen
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000523:psychology*; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate