Meaning in adjustment to cancer: A model of care

Abstract

In the clinical setting of cancer, meaning may well have a central role in the life changes the illness experience brings about. As health care professionals working with people with life-threatening illness, we are exposed to one of the major turning points in life and the ways people confront this transition. Meaning can assist coping by offering a framework, perspective, and counterbalance to the challenge of illness. However, the absence of meaning can be a precursor to profound despair. This article brings together the clinical implications of two studies conducted by the authors that explored the role of meaning in adjustment to cancer, presenting a theoretical understanding of the experience of meaning in cancer and identifying some potential approaches to intervention. Our findings point to some specific goals of care as well as a number of therapeutic modalities aimed to meet these goals. We examine four goals of care--acknowledging suffering, encouraging a search for meaning, strengthening connection with others, and ensuring optimal physical care--as foundational in any clinical approach and then examine the key models of therapy that assist the clinician in pursuing these goals. Our aim is to create an integrated approach to care provision that locates meaning centrally in any patient's adaptation.