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Coping amid uncertainty: an illness trajectory perspective
1University of California, San Francisco.
Scholarly Inquiry for Nursing Practice
|January 1, 1993
Summary
This study redefines coping with cancer by examining uncertainty in illness trajectory. It analyzes how individuals manage temporality, body, and identity, offering a new framework for understanding patient coping processes.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Psychology
- Sociology
Background:
- Conventional definitions of coping lack a comprehensive framework for understanding patient experiences.
- Cancer presents unique challenges related to temporality, body, and identity, influencing coping mechanisms.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose an alternative to the conventional social/psychological definition of coping.
- To examine the uncertainties of temporality, body, and identity in coping with cancer using an illness trajectory framework.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical analysis using the "illness trajectory" framework.
- Examination of the interaction between uncertain conditions and patient work processes.
Main Results:
- Identified key uncertainties in temporality, body, and identity for cancer patients.
- Described complex work processes individuals engage in to "cope with" cancer.
- Highlighted that coping processes are experienced differently by each individual.
Conclusions:
- The proposed framework offers a more holistic understanding of coping with cancer.
- These findings have implications for understanding coping mechanisms in other chronic diseases.
- Redefines "coping" as a complex, individualized process of managing illness uncertainties.
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