Individuals with a genetic predisposition to develop hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC), but who have not been diagnosed with cancer, are referred to as previvors. Although genetic testing may reduce previvors' worries about whether or not they have a high genetic cancer risk, testing positive produces negative emotions and long-term uncertainty-thus requiring the management of uncertainty. Existing research indicates family, friends, and social support networks are limited in their assistance for previvors' uncertainty management. Therefore, this study examined how health care providers may assist previvors in uncertainty management by asking: What strategies do BRCA-positive previvors enact with their health care providers to help manage their uncertainty about HBOC? Purposive sampling was employed to recruit participants via online social media. The final sample consisted of 34 BRCA-positive women. Interviews revealed four uncertainty management strategies-seeking health care providers as informational sources, seeking health care providers as partners for decision making, seeking health care providers for supportive communication, and seeking referrals from health care providers for social support networks. Findings indicate that health care providers who are knowledgeable about BRCA, provide information, answer questions, check understanding, and provide additional resources assist previvors in managing their uncertainties by distinguishing options and fostering meaning.

Objective: This pilot study set out to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of an interactive, peer-led, health engagement workshop to improve confidence and comprehension related to advance care planning (ACP) among young adults. Secondarily, this study evaluated if such workshops could promote ACP related behavior changes within this population. Methods: This observational cohort study utilized a repeated measures, mixed-method design. Six hour-long, in-person workshops were conducted with undergraduate students during meetings of university student organizations. Participants were evaluated across 3 mixed-method surveys, evaluating confidence, knowledge, and behaviors related to ACP prior to participation, directly after, and during a 2-week follow-up. Results: Workshop participation improved the average participant confidence and knowledge related to ACP as well as encouraged some participants to engage in discussions related to end-of-life care with friends and family. Alongside the impact of the workshops on knowledge and confidence, participants positively evaluated the design of the workshops through collected qualitative feedback. Conclusion: These results are encouraging in assessing this population’s willingness to learn about end-of-life care planning. The tools developed and the corresponding results should be used for further exploration of engaging the young adult population in ACP to promote improved healthcare outcomes.

Humans are storytellers, and many disciplines are dedicated to the production, examination, and interpretation of stories. In health communication, narrative theory is particularly interested in meaning‐making as it exists in contexts of health, illness, and wellness. Delving into narrative theory in health communication is a somewhat confounding task considering the hard science frame that dominates biomedicine. Nevertheless, embracing narrative theory in health offers scholars a view of the human experience of health, wellness, and illness not available through other forms. To grasp the magnitude of narrative, one must understand the constitutive nature of communication and the ways stories (co‐, re‐, de‐)construct reality and identity. In health communication, there are innumerable examples of these ideas, so this overview of narrative theory is organized to examine the ideas behind creating and interpreting narratives, followed by a look at what it means to engage in a narrative life and the activism that flows from such a life. Examples of various expressions of health narrative are suggested for further study.

There is a problem with the baby. These words, dreaded by every expectant parent, came spilling forth from the doctor's mouth like a summons we could not escape. That was a defining moment, perhaps the defining moment that altered the course of our lives. It was not a summons to appear for a judgment, but a summons to live differently, to walk an unknown path. We immediately realized the many potential losses we faced in that different life, but we did not know and could not have known the depth of life, joy and goodness we would come to experience when we began walking that dark journey together.A clear line marks before and after this moment in my life. On one side is the life I had before March 12, 2002, a life represented by a studio portrait of my husband and me poised in perfect position, smiling directly into the camera lens. On the other side is the life I have now, a life represented by our favorite family photo in which my husband and I are engaged in a tickle fight with our three boys. Everyone is laughing and no one is paying attention to the camera. Around my house, we call the previous time, before Will. And frankly, anything that happened before Will is a blur. The cast of characters present in the dividing moment includes Adam (my husband), a doctor, and me. To add another perspective to my account, I include Adam's voice. His rendition of the event adds color and depth where mine falls flat. He poetically depicts some of the events I remember as sterile and pragmatic. We investigate the parental experience of receiving a devastating diagnosis for our first child by bringing our private moment into the public eye.1 It is our hope that readers will, as Frank says, 2 think with our story by considering our cognitive and emotional responses of fear and faith as we move through and past the most traumatic day of our lives. Additionally, our story adds to the growing yet still underrepresented patient and family accounts. Through this account, we invite healthcare professionals into our home, thoughts, feelings and daily experiences to give a fuller view of what they experience with patients and families in the clinical setting. Ellis and colleagues explain autoethnography as an approach to research and writing that seeks to describe and systematically analyze personal experience in order to understand cultural experience (273).3 Using thick description, writers produce texts that are accessible and challenge the norms of scientific research by acknowledging the importance of the process of research as well as the product. Autoethnography is concerned with both personal and social change and therefore seeks to be accessible to a wider and more diverse audience often disregarded by traditional research.Narratives such as this one engage two authors' experiences of an event. Specifically, co-constructed narratives aim to show how people collaboratively cope with the ambiguities, uncertainties, and contradictions of being friends, family, and/or intimate partners (279).3 When two authors collaborate on a...

Parents of seriously ill children struggle to traverse both the physical and emotional spaces of hospitals. Off the Map, a performance born out of an ethnographic research project and personal experience, employs a digital map to explore the institutional guidance offered to parents of hospitalized children. In this article, the script from Off the Map is integrated with text from a classroom discussion about the performance, ethnographic interviews with parents of seriously ill children, and a theoretically-grounded discussion of cartography as a performance metaphor. Implications for practice include a call for parents and practitioners to consider multiple ways of mapping healthcare spaces and experiences.