Open Access, Peer-reviewed
pISSN 2287-2434
eISSN 2287-447X
    Asian Oncol Nurs. 2016 Mar;16(1):46-57. Korean.
    Published online Mar 31, 2016.
    https://doi.org/10.5388/aon.2016.16.1.46
    © 2016 Korean Oncology Nursing Society
    Original Article

    Experiences of Spouses of Patients with Hematologic Malignancies: Finding a Way to Get Out of the Endless Tunnel

    Youngshin Lee,1 and Youngran Tak2
      • 1Department of Nursing, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
      • 2College of Nursing, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea.
    • Address reprint requests to: Lee, Youngshin. Asan Medical Center, 88 Olympic-ro 43gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul 05505, Korea. Fax: +82-2-3010-5595, Tel: +82-2-3010-6892, Email: lysinkorea@gmail.com
    Received December 22, 2015; Revised March 17, 2016; Accepted March 24, 2016.

    This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

    Abstract

    Purpose

    This study was to explore experiences of spouses with hematologic malignancy patients. The main question was "What are experiences of spouses whose husband or wife was diagnosed with hematologic malignancy?".

    Methods

    Participants for this study were 12 spouses. Data were collected through individual in-depth unstructured interviews with participants from Feb, 2014 to June, 2015 and analyzed using Strauss and Corbin's grounded theory methodology

    Results

    A core category was 'Finding a way to get out of the endless tunnel'. The process is 1) Shock, 2) Confusion, 3) Struggle, 4) Living with the disease, 5) Maturation within the disease. The contextual conditions were 'Responsibility for patient', 'Fear of spouseless future'. The intervening conditions were 'Having support', 'Having closer marital relationship', Keeping patient's disease repressed. Finally, Participants reached 'Circling around the disease', 'Finding personal growth'.

    Conclusion

    The results of this study could help understand the experiences of spouses of hematologic malignancy patients. The emerged process of their experiences gives a framework to develop strategies to help spouses to overcome disease.

    Keywords
    Hematologic Neoplasms; Spouses; Life Experiences; Grounded theory

    Figures

    Fig. 1
    Model of Experiences of Spouses of Patients with Hematologic Malignancies.

    Tables

    Table 1
    Concepts, Categories and Paradigms of Spouse's Experiences of Hematologic Malignancy Patients

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    MeSH Terms
    Hematologic Neoplasms*
    Humans
    Life Change Events
    Shock
    Spouses*
    Metrics
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