title: Hope in adults with cancer: state of the science.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To synthesize the literature regarding research on hope in adults with cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  CINAHL Plus® and PsycINFO databases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixteen articles published from 2005-2009 met the criteria for review. The literature was organized according to Oncology Nursing Society levels of evidence. Research studies on hope in adults with cancer were analyzed, critiqued, and synthesized.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Research evidence continues to grow regarding descriptions of hope and hope attributes in adults with cancer. Although nursing intervention programs have demonstrated positive effects on hope in adults newly diagnosed with cancer, those with a first cancer recurrence, the terminally ill, and survivors of childhood cancer, current studies are small and additional research is indicated.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Opportunities exist to explain the dynamic process of hope, develop hope interventions that are tailored to meet the developmental needs of adults with cancer, and study existing nursing programs that support hope using larger samples in randomized, controlled trials.
authors.affiliation: Connell School of Nursing, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA. buttc@bc.edu
authors.forename: Clare M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Butt
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D015400:Clinical Nursing Research; D055318:Evidence-Based Nursing; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*