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Benefits of Attending a Weekend Childhood Cancer Survivor Family Retreat
Author(s) -
Bashore Lisa,
Bender Joyce
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of nursing scholarship
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.009
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1547-5069
pISSN - 1527-6546
DOI - 10.1111/jnu.12320
Subject(s) - childhood cancer , survivorship curve , focus group , cancer survivorship , qualitative research , cancer survivor , medicine , perspective (graphical) , psychology , family medicine , cancer , gerontology , social science , marketing , artificial intelligence , sociology , computer science , business
Purpose To explore the long‐term benefits to families of childhood cancer survivors who attended a weekend childhood cancer survivor family retreat. Design Descriptive‐qualitative study including families who had attended the weekend retreat at least once but not in the past 12 months, and who attend a large pediatric hematology and oncology cancer survivorship program in Texas. Methods A semistructured interview guide was used during three audio‐taped focus groups to explore the benefits of having attended a weekend retreat. Descriptive qualitative analysis was used to analyze the focus groups’ transcripts. Findings Seven families participated in the focus groups, and the themes identified were reconnecting (with others or family), putting life in perspective, and changing outlook on life. Conclusions Retreats offer families of cancer survivors opportunities to reconnect with others and their own family members in a therapeutic environment. These reconnections in a therapeutic environment enriched the families’ positive outlooks on life and changed their perspectives. Clinical Relevance Families of childhood cancer survivors report a lack of support following the completion of therapy. Retreats in a nonclinical therapeutic setting optimize family‐perceived support, relationship building, and reconnecting survivor families.