Abstract

Worldwide, cancer still ranks as the second leading cause of death among children. In Asia alone, it continues to be a leading cause of childhood mortality. Though treatment such as chemotherapy have played a major role in combating cancer, local researches that dwell to understand their lives as they undergo the therapy are sparse. To further understand the lives of adolescents undergoing chemotherapy, this paper was conceptualized to present a glimpse of the adolescent's life and answer the question "What it is like to be an adolescent undergoing chemotherapy". Further, this paper is part of a larger study exploring the journey and the experience of adolescents during the course of their chemotherapy. Following the philosophical underpinning of phenomenology, five adolescents were selected as participants of the study based on preset criteria. The experiences of the participant were gathered and validated via the following methods: 1) Interview, 2) Storytelling, 3) Participant Observation, 4) Art, and 5) Group Discussion. Subsequently, three levels of reflective analysis were done on the narratives of the participants following the process specifically developed by the researcher grounded in the philosophy of interpretive phenomenology. Through the process of reflective analysis, three (3) themes surfaced: (1) Behind the Mask: Who am I Now?, (2) Forbidden but not Forgotten, and (3) New Me: Metamorphosis of Self. These themes reflected their affirmation that their lives have been "masked" by their disease and its treatment. "Masked" with its many layers of meaning represented the essence and the core description of their experience. Revelations and insights from these research findings suggested that to treat adolescents undergoing chemotherapy as "special" may sometimes be counterproductive as they feel it is opposed to their desire to be seen as normal as possible, which enhances their sense of control and autonomy.

Notes

This article appears in this repository with written permission of the journal and publisher.

Author Details

Rudolf Cymorr Kirby P. Martinez, PhD, MA, RN, CAA, LMT, CSTP, FRIN

Sigma Membership

Non-member

Type

Article

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Phenomenology

Research Approach

Qualitative Research

Keywords:

Phenomenology, Cancer, Adolescent, Pediatrics, Chemotherapy, Quality of Life

Publisher

Philippine Journal of Nursing

Version

Publisher's Version

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

Peer-review: Single Blind

Acquisition

Self-submission

Date of Issue

2013-12-01

Full Text of Presentation

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