title: Decay, Transformation, and Growth: Meaning-Making Processes of Patients With Acute Leukemia Within the First Year After Diagnosis or Relapse.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the processes through which patients construct their meanings of acute leukemia (AL).
  
  
  METHODS
  An exploratory design was employed using serial, in-depth interviews, guided by Smith's Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two inpatient hematology clinics in the United Kingdom.
  
  
  METHODS
  10 adult patients with AL.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two serial interviews were conducted with each participant, two to four weeks apart, within the first year of diagnosis or post-relapse.
  
  
  RESULTS
  AL creates a state of imbalance, which may initiate a search for new equilibrium. Patients' journeys toward making sense of their illness may involve three interchangeable processes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings of this contextually and methodologically novel study highlight the complex nature of sense-making for patients experiencing AL.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nurses can take valuable lessons on how to manage the invisibility of AL, enhance trust in healthcare professionals, address the impact of isolation, and facilitate the making-sense processes of patients in ways that favor their short- and long-term psychosocial adjustment.
authors.affiliation: University of the West of Scotland.
authors.forename: Constantina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Papadopoulou
authors.affiliation: University of Nottingham.
authors.forename: Bridget
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.affiliation: NHS Tayside.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Themessl-Huber
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology*; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D036301:Qualitative Research; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis; acute leukemia; meaning-making process; qualitative