Hopefulness and its characteristics in adolescents with cancer.

Abstract

Hopefulness in adolescents with cancer serves critical functions related to the adolescents' sense of well-being and commitment to treatment. Given these critical functions, it is important to determine the essential characteristics of hopefulness, which include the degree and dynamism of hopefulness and the nature and attributes of hoped-for objects. The purposes of this two-site study were to describe the degree and dynamism of hopefulness at four time points during the first 6 months of adolescents' treatment for newly diagnosed cancer, to identify and describe the adolescents' hoped-for objects, and to evaluate potential relationships between the characteristics of hopefulness and patient gender, age, diagnosis, and time point in treatment. Seventy-eight adolescents completed the Hopefulness Scale for Adolescents, the Hopelessness Scale, and the Hopefulness Interview Question at each time point. Hopefulness scores were higher and hopelessness scores substantially lower than reported in other tested samples. Adolescents identified a total of 57 different hopes. Differences by age, gender, and diagnosis were found.