Related Experiment Videos
Spiritual issues of family members in a pancreatic cancer chat room
Marie T Nolan1, Mary B Hodgin, Sharon J Olsen
1School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. mnolan@son.jhmi.edu
Purpose/Objectives:
To describe spiritual issues addressed by users of a pancreatic cancer informational Web site.
Design:
Qualitative, descriptive.
Setting:
The patient and family chat room of Johns Hopkins Hospital's pancreatic cancer Web site.
Sample:
600 postings on the pancreatic cancer Web site.
Methods:
Identification of categories and themes in Web postings using the constant comparison method of content analysis.
Main Research Variables:
Spirituality, relationship of the person posting a message (poster) to the person with cancer.
Findings:
Relationship of the poster to the person with pancreatic cancer was explicit in 68% (n = 410) of the 600 postings, and 83% of those 410 postings indicated that the poster was a family member. Issues of spirituality appeared in 19% (n = 114) of the 600 postings and addressed four themes: spiritual convergence, reframing suffering, hope, and acceptance of the power of God and eternal life. Six percent of postings were by family members reporting on the death of their loved ones, suggesting that the site also served a bereavement function.
Conclusions:
Family members of patients with pancreatic cancer sought and received spiritual comfort in a variety of forms in an Internet-based cancer chat room.
Implications For Nursing:
Nurse developers of cancer information Web sites should periodically assess how the sites are being used and apply the information to the refinement of the sites to better meet user needs. Further study is needed to develop and evaluate cancer Web sites as an evolving medium for providing spiritual support to family members of patients with life-threatening forms of cancer.
Related Concept Videos
01:27Nursing Ethical Principles II
Consider the following scenario, which illustrates how these principles are applied in the care of Mr. John, a fifty-year-old teacher diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer.
Initially, Mr. John's cancer...
02:49Cancer Therapies
However, cancer treatments can pose several challenges, as therapies used to kill cancer cells are generally also toxic to normal cells. Moreover, cancer cells mutate rapidly and can develop resistance to chemical agents or radiation therapy. Besides, all types of cancer cells may not respond to the same therapy. Some cancer cells respond to one...
02:49Cancer Therapies
However, cancer treatments can pose several challenges, as therapies used to kill cancer cells are generally also toxic to normal cells. Moreover, cancer cells mutate rapidly and can develop resistance to chemical agents or radiation therapy. Besides, all types of cancer cells may not respond to the same therapy. Some cancer cells respond to one...
02:18Cancer
01:33Cancer-Critical Genes I: Proto-oncogenes
When the function of certain critical genes, especially those involved in cell cycle regulation and cell growth signaling cascades, gets disrupted, it upsets the cell cycle progression. Such cells with unchecked cell cycles start proliferating uncontrollably and eventually develop into tumors.
Such genes that act...
01:27Ethical Issues
Ethical Concerns in Healthcare: