title: Meshing Gears: Mothers and Their Adolescents Returning to Their Social Life After Cancer Treatment in Taiwan.
abstract: Adolescents with cancer and their parents have to deal with the challenge of returning to their pre-diagnosis social life. The purpose of this study was to describe the subjective lived experiences of Taiwanese mothers and their adolescents who had completed cancer treatment and were returning to school. Eight Taiwanese mother-adolescent dyads were recruited by purposive sampling. Core themes were extracted using phenomenological method and dyadic analysis. Findings were metaphorically captured by the theme "meshing gears." The mothers and their adolescents were initially like 2 gears spinning alone, side by side due to experiencing different distress related to their social roles. To move toward a normal and healthy life journey, the mothers and their adolescents worked together as a well-tuned machine. This phenomenon is similar to gears meshing without friction to keep moving forward together. Our results suggest that health care professionals should provide follow-up care and interdisciplinary school reentry services to adolescent cancer survivors to improve their quality of life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City, Taiwan fdi613@yahoo.com.tw.
authors.forename: Chin-Mi
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Hsin Sheng College of Medical Care and Management, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Bi-Hua
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Hungkuang University, Taichung, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yueh-Chih
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Tung's Taichung MetroHarbor Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Shin-Nan
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jen-Jiuan
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Liaw
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D013624:Taiwan
keywords: adolescents/youth; cancer; maternal care; return to school; survivorship