Parents' initial experience with childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia.

Abstract

This study reports on the experience of seven couples whose children were diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia. Each couple was interviewed for four hours or more. Interviews were tape recorded. Transcripts of the interviews were typed and analyzed using techniques suggested by Barritt et al. (1983). The analysis revealed several themes which were common to all parents. Three of the core themes became the major focus of this dissertation: "finding out," "a shattering of worlds," and "reorganization." Parents' reports reveal that illness becomes significant because it disrupts and narrows one's relationship with the world. The meaning of this is clearly seen when parents are confronted with the possibility of the death of their child. Through their participation in this experience and their dialogue with others, parents report becoming empowered in their struggle to survive the diagnosis and its significance. If professionals are to be of help, they must move beyond a biological model of illness and concern themselves with the life world of these parents and their children, especially with the meaning such a severe diagnosis carries.