Oncology Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Oncology, including details on cancer, surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy.

Peer-supported storytelling for grieving pediatric oncology nurses.

Macpherson CF

Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, University of Washington School of Nursing, Seattle, Washington, USA. cfmacph@u.washington.edu

Telling stories about deceased patients to supportive peers is frequently mentioned as an activity used for meaning-making in anecdotal reports of clinical practice and the literature addressing nurses' experiences caring for dying children. This study examines peer-supported storytelling for grieving pediatric oncology nurses using a mixed methods single-group descriptive repeated measures design. Participants were 6 registered nurses from a tertiary care pediatric hospital inpatient oncology unit who self-identified as experiencing grief. Participants met in self-selected dyads for 2 storytelling sessions. Questionnaires were completed at baseline, midpoint, and study end. Sessions were audio-recorded. Participants reported (1) receiving and providing support during sessions; (2) that sessions had an impact on their grief; (3) that sessions had an impact on their meaning-making, and the explicit session focus on making sense of and identifying benefit in their experiences was particularly helpful. There was a significant positive correlation between participant report of number of special patient deaths during career and impact of sessions on grief.

Published 18 April 2008 in J Pediatr Oncol Nurs, 25(3): 148-63.
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