Meshing Gears

Abstract

Adolescents with cancer and their parents have to deal with the challenge of returning to their pre-diagnosis social life. The purpose of this study was to describe the subjective lived experiences of Taiwanese mothers and their adolescents who had completed cancer treatment and were returning to school. Eight Taiwanese mother-adolescent dyads were recruited by purposive sampling. Core themes were extracted using phenomenological method and dyadic analysis. Findings were metaphorically captured by the theme "meshing gears." The mothers and their adolescents were initially like 2 gears spinning alone, side by side due to experiencing different distress related to their social roles. To move toward a normal and healthy life journey, the mothers and their adolescents worked together as a well-tuned machine. This phenomenon is similar to gears meshing without friction to keep moving forward together. Our results suggest that health care professionals should provide follow-up care and interdisciplinary school reentry services to adolescent cancer survivors to improve their quality of life.

A systematic review of the educational experiences and needs of children with cancer returning to school

“…This situation was explained in other studies where children's cancer experiences had changed their life priorities and identity (Choquette et al, 2016;Pini et al, 2016). Some studies also described how children matured faster than their classmates, becoming more resilient and empathetic (Chen et al, 2015;Choquette et al, 2016;Yi et al, 2016). Others suggested, however, that survivors' new maturity appeared to hinder the formation of emotional bonds with peers (Yi et al, 2016) and lead to less satisfaction with friends (Winterling et al, 2015).…”

“…School absences were more frequent during the first school year of returning, for children in treatment or with brain tumours (Park et al, 2018) which were perceived negatively by parents (Hocking et al, 2018). If a formal plan to return to the school was not established, this appeared to lead to a more complicated and uncertain reintegration process (Chen et al, 2015;Pini et al, 2016;Rivero-Vergne et al, 2011;Tresman et al, 2016).…”

“…The children's social life changed after their return to the school environment, specifically in relation to building new relationships with peers (Vanclooster et al, 2020). Social stress, poor social skills and low self-esteem in school or a small social network (lack or less close friendships) were inhibiting factors reported by children, parents and teachers (Chen et al, 2015;Kieffer et al, 2012;McLoone et al, 2011McLoone et al, , 2013Vanclooster et al, 2019b;Yilmaz et al,2014). Some children experienced rejection by peers at school and many reported feelings of loneliness and isolation (Choquette et al, 2016;Yi et al, 2016), and bullying (Park et al, 2018;Yi et al, 2016).…”

“…In Yi et al's (2016) study some close friends acted as protectors from bullying. Some children were able to build and receive social support from others (Chen et al, 2015) and teachers viewed support from classmates as important in increasing engagement in education (Pini et al, 2013). Nevertheless, some children reported finding their classmates as immature on their return and they felt that their friendship group had changed (McLoone et al, 2011).…”

“…Despite the educational support, the lengthy treatments for cancer often negatively affect children's school attendance and participation with peers in school activities. Therefore, for children with cancer, one of the greatest educational and social challenges are returning to school after multiple or prolonged absences (Boles et al, 2017;Chen et al, 2015;Choquette et al, 2016). According to Schilling and Getch (2018), 'school re-entry refers to the return to school and reintegration into the school setting following diagnosis, prolonged hospitalization, and/or general time away from school' (p. 2).…”