Existential Meaning-Making Coping in Iran: A Qualitative Study among Patients with Cancer

Fereshteh Ahmadi,Mona Sabzevari,Mohammad Rabbani,Mohammad Khodayarifard,Saeid Zandi

doi:10.3390/socsci11020080

Abstract

This article is written on the basis of a study on meaning-making coping in Iran. The study is a part of an international project in 10 countries with different religious and cultural backgrounds. This article aims to discuss the secular existential meaning-making coping methods employed by Iranian cancer patients. Interviews were conducted with 27 participants with various kinds of cancer. Nine secular existential meaning-making coping strategies emerged from the analyses of the qualitative interviews. These coping methods are as follows: Ignoring the illness, Distraction, Altruism, Encounter with others, Nature, Discourse of the self, Visualization, Positive solitude, and Positive thinking and transformational orientation. It seems that, using these strategies, our sample of Iranian cancer patients/survivors have been denying/ignoring their illness, and/or empowering themselves. We discuss the results, considering the potential influence of cultural elements, including Iranian Islam, Persian mysticism, and Persian literature, on the selection of the coping strategies. The study contributes to our understanding of coping via elucidating how seriously ill individuals in Iran try to manage the challenges caused by a health crisis.

Highlights

Psycho-oncology research shows that cancer is associated with psychological problems such as feelings of powerlessness, despair, fear, and anxiety
Nine core themes emerged from our analysis: Ignoring the illness, Distraction, Altruism, Encounter with others, Nature, Discourse of the self, Visualization, Positive solitude, and Positive thinking and transformational orientation
We examined the secular existential meaning-making coping methods employed by Iranian cancer patients

Summary

Introduction

Psycho-oncology research shows that cancer is associated with psychological problems such as feelings of powerlessness, despair, fear, and anxiety. When faced with stressful situations, people engage in many types of coping so as to reduce their stress. People may engage in problem-focused coping, changing the conditions that create or maintain the problem. People may resort to emotion-focused coping, which is targeted at temporarily alleviating distress by disengaging behaviorally or mentally (Dunkel-Schetter et al 1992; Gibbons and Groarke 2018; Park et al 2008). Meaning-focused coping may serve as another type of coping to deal with such situations (Ahmadi et al 2021, 2022; Ahmadi and Zandi 2021; Park 2010a, 2010b).

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