Process of Converging Identity Fluctuations by Coping With Balance Between Continuing Treatment and Balancing Social Life for Working-Age Cancer Patients

Abstract

Objectives: To clarify the processes by which working-age cancer patients converge fluctuations in their identity by implementing coping strategies that improve compatibility between their ongoing treatment and their social lives.

Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 working-age cancer patients, and the data were analyzed using the trajectory-equifinality model.

Result: The processes by which working-age cancer patients converge fluctuations in their identity were divided into seven stages. Patients’ identities and coping strategies were clarified for each stage, and the processes were categorized into four patterns. In each of the patterns, patients confronted their actual self and their idealized self in a manner that corresponded to the course of treatment. The process of doing so led to an identity in which the patient has accepted themself “as a cancer survivor and is able to identify an individualized way of living for the future” through the implementation of different strategies to fulfill their social roles while continuing their treatment.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that providing support that considers differences in identity, awareness, and coping behavior among working-age cancer patients can help such patients to more easily converge fluctuations in their identity.