Abstract
The purpose of this study is to elucidate the process in which fathers who have a child suffering from cancer come to terms with the difficult situation. Six fathers whose child had been hospitalized due to the onset of cancer in the pediatrics ward at Hospital A were interviewed. Using the amended version of grounded theory approach, analysis was performed on textual data, which is the word by word transcription of their comments collected during the interviews. Four categories were drawn from the data: category of feeling their own growth, category of doctors' help by providing reassurance, category of their desperate coping behavior and category of encouragement. Fathers of those children who had been diagnosed as having cancer first experienced the fear that they might lose their child. Thereafter, they managed to sustain themselves through the distressing situation by endeavoring to 'switch to positive thinking', 'assume cheerfulness' and 'pretend to be strong-hearted'. As a result, these fathers were able to realize their own growth. It was found that the process was affected by the mental support of their fellow workers, sick child and sick child's siblings and reassuring involvement of the doctors.
