2014 Volume 23 Issue 2 Pages 1-9
The purpose of this study was to clarify the process of nurse's involvement with a child patient in the terminal stage of childhood cancer from the moment when the child starts his (or her) narrative of anxiety about poor prognosis and fear of dying. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten nurses having more than three years of clinical experience. The results were analyzed according to the modified grounded theory approach to extract eight categories and 24 concepts. The nurses were found to try "sensing the child's feeling about poor prognosis" by "responding to the child's anxiety about gloomy prospects of the disease and the treatment". The nurses were found to "adapt themselves to the child's state and timing without missing a chance", e.g., by "always getting ready to listen to the child's narrative" and "waiting for a chance for the child to start a narrative". They tried "accepting the child's narrative resulting from consciousness of the end and death" and "coping with the child's anxiety about life-threatening precarious condition", thereby "sensing that the child can temporarily relieve the anxiety about life-threatening precarious condition." Once sensing the child's temporary relieve, the nurses again took a stance of "always getting ready to listen to the child's narrative" and "waiting for a chance for the child to start a narrative." The results suggested such a nurse's stance may be a significant chance for the child to start a narrative of anxiety about life-threatening precarious condition and narrative of coming end.
