The complexity of cancer: how young people with cancer navigate the self, social world, and camp

SN Social Sciences - Tập 3 - Trang 1-21 - 2023
Fiona J. Moola1,2,3,4, Sydney Campbell2,5,6, Alyssa R. Neville2,7
1School of Early Childhood Studies, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Canada
2Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Toronto, Canada
3Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
4Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
5Management & Evaluation, Institute of Health Policy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
6Joint Centre for Bioethics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
7School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Queens’ University, Kingston, Canada

Tóm tắt

Despite the rarity of childhood cancers, they are still a persistent source of morbidity and mortality among children and adolescents in Canada. Camps for children with chronic illnesses like cancer have been in existence for decades. However, there is little empirical contemporary qualitative scholarship that exists. In this study, we explored the experiences of 10 children and adolescents at a summer camp in Eastern Canada. We utilized a sociology of childhood conceptual framework to center children’s agency at camp as well as an institutional ethnography to focus on children’s everyday lives in the camp context. Children with cancer navigated their self-identities in complex ways at camp, including deeply emotional experiences. Their social worlds were equally complex and comprised meaningful social interactions with important social actors both inside and outside the camp context, such as companions at camp and parents. Children’s camp experiences were extensive and included the decision to come to camp, traveling to camp, and whether they engaged in dialog about cancer with other children at camp. Our findings on self-negotiations, the importance of camp companions, and cancer dialogs at camp are novel pieces of evidence. Our findings support the important role that camp plays in the lives of children with cancer and the potential role of camp in reducing cancer-related psychosocial adversity. Further, our findings serve as a call to future researchers to better engage with children’s voices to better understand how they navigate complex self and social world negotiations at camp.

Tài liệu tham khảo

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