The present study sought to explore the role of meaning making and high-level construal in the relationship between meaning discrepancy and posttraumatic growth among Chinese cancer patients.

The participants were 193 individuals diagnosed with cancer. Meaning discrepancy, meaning making, high-level construal in meaning making, and posttraumatic growth were measured. Bootstrapping and structural equation modeling were performed to test the mediation effects of high-level construal on the meaning-making process.

Mediation analysis revealed that perceived discrepancies were associated with individuals' meaning-making efforts. Meaning-making efforts prompted participants to adopt a high-level construal orientation, which in turn enhanced posttraumatic growth.

Our study empirically tested construal level theory in a population suffering from severe chronic trauma. The results demonstrate the important role of high-level construal in the meaning-making process of cancer patients, suggesting a specific effective strategy to foster posttraumatic growth. It seems encouraging to indicate that adopting such high-level construal may be included as part of psychological interventions for cancer patients.

Many people experience an ongoing relationship with a deceased loved one. This is called a “continued bond.” However, little is known about the adolescent experience with continued bonds once a parent has died. This study describes three ways that adolescents continue their relationship with a parent after that parent's death.

Individual semistructured interviews were conducted with nine adolescent children of deceased hospice patients from a large hospice in northeastern Ohio as part of a larger grounded-theory study. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using a conventional content analysis approach.

Adolescents continued their bonds with deceased parents in one of three ways: experiencing encounters with the deceased parent, listening to the inner guide of the parent, and keeping mementos to remind them of the parent.

The ways that the adolescents continued their bond with a deceased parent assisted them in creating meaning out of their loss and adjusting to life without that parent. Our results can be used by health professionals and parents to help adolescents after a parent has died.

The present study is the result of theory-driven research investigating the role of the search for and presence of meaning in enhancing both mental adjustment and eudaimonic well-being in cancer patients.

A cross-sectional study involved 266 cancer patients currently in the treatment and management phase of their illness. Data were collected by a written questionnaire. The search for meaning was assessed with the Seeking of Noetic Goals Test, and the presence of meaning was assessed using the Purpose in Life Test. Mental adjustment to a cancer diagnosis was assessed by two subscales of the Italian version of the Mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer Scale, and eudaimonic well-being was assessed with the Psychological Well-Being Scale. Correlation and mediation analyses based on five thousand bootstrapping samples were performed.

The mediation analyses showed that the presence of meaning totally or partially mediated the effect of the search for meaning on both mental adjustment and eudaimonic well-being. Further correlation analyses showed a high negative correlation between eudaimonic well-being and hopelessness.

Our results appear relevant from both the theoretical and clinical points of view. They support a deeper understanding of the combined contribution of the search for and presence of meaning in promoting well-being in cancer patients. Simultaneously, they are consistent with suggestions from recent studies on the clinical psychology of posttraumatic growth and emphasize the relevance of eudaimonic well-being as a protective factor for hopelessness.

This study aims to explore and understand how people with advanced cancer create meaning and handle everyday life through activity.

A purposive sample of seven participants was recruited from a larger study. Data were collected through qualitative interviews and participant observations conducted in the participants' home environments while they were engaged in activities to which they assigned particular value. Interpretive analysis was conducted using narrative theory and relevant literature.

The study shows how people in conditions of advanced cancer fashion narratives useful for handling everyday life with advanced cancer. A meta-narrative of “saying goodbye in a good way” provided an overall structure for the participants as they attempted to create desired narratives negotiated in context of the individuals' sociocultural life and in the proximity of death. A narrative of “being healthy although ill” provided an arena for exploring the contrast between simultaneously feeling well and severely ill. Further emplotment of activities in “routines and continuity” was identified as a means to provide a safe, familiar framework stimulating participants' everyday agency. “My little Mecca” was identified as a narrative reflecting the activity of life-confirming experiences and taking time out.

The identified narratives performed and told in daily life may guide the development of palliative care services to support people with advanced cancer in creating meaning in the remains of their lives.

Female partners of cancer patients are at high risk for psychological distress. However, the majority of studies have focused on measurement of female partners' psychological distress during diagnosis and early treatment. There is a gap in the literature with regard to qualitative studies that examine the experiences of female partners of spouses with cancer during the transition to end-of-life care. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the meaning of being in transition to end-of-life care among female partners of spouses with cancer.

An interpretive phenomenological approach based on Gadamer's (1960/1975) philosophy was used to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of end-of-life transition. Eight female partners from two in-patient hospices and a community-based palliative care service were interviewed using a semistructured approach.

Three major themes and associated subthemes were identified that outlined female partners' experiences. One major theme, Meaning of Our Lives, included the subthemes Our Relationship, Significance of His Life, and Searching for Understanding. In another theme, Dying with Cancer, partners undertook the Burden of Caring, experienced an Uncertain Path and were Looking for Hope. In the last theme, Glimpses of the Future, participants Faced Tomorrow and confirmed their Capacity to Survive.

The results centered on three major concepts: meaning making, anticipatory mourning, and hope. Although meaning making has been identified as a fundamental way in which bereaved individuals cope with loss, results of this study suggested that female partners made meaning of their situations before their spouses' deaths. Participants also spontaneously described aspects of anticipatory mourning, thus, validating a concept that has been widely accepted despite limited research. Another finding was that participants shouldered the responsibility of adjusting spouses' hopes in order to help them to cope. Implications for practice and research are drawn from these findings.