title: What cancer means to the patients and their primary caregivers in the family-accounted Korean context: A dyadic interpretation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  When cancer hits a family, the entire family members start to adapt to the new status. This study aimed to investigate the main issue of the family with cancer patient and their way of solving it.
  
  
  METHODS
  In-depth interviews were conducted as a qualitative research. Thirty-three participants described their experience either as cancer patients or as family caregivers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Guided by the grounded theory, we identified the main concern of the families being primary caregiver selection. The primary caregiver was determined by the conditions of the patient and the family, but the primary caregiver accepted his/her role believing no alternative was plausible in the family. The processes of the entire family have change since cancer showed their "adapting living," which was identified as the core variable.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  On the basis of the current study's limitations, suggestions were made for future studies in which cultural attributes are distinguished from the medical system attributes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Utah Asia Campus, Incheon, South Korea.
authors.forename: Ansuk
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7359-8929
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Ji Yeong
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: An
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine/Graduate School of Health Science Business Convergence, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jong Hyock
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Cancer Control and Policy/ Graduate School of Cancer Science and Policy, National Cancer Center, Goyang, South Korea.
authors.forename: Keeho
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003469:Culture; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D056910:Republic of Korea
keywords: Korean culture; cancer; family caregivers; oncology; qualitative research; responsibility distribution