Unveiling perspectives on the psychosocial impacts of childhood cancer survival on young adult survivors' reassimilation journey: A qualitative exploration.

BACKGROUND

Approximately 82% of children with childhood cancer survive more than five years after diagnosis. Living as a cancer survivor elicits a new reality that can include psychosocial impacts. These psychosocial impacts interact collectively, especially regarding reassimilation, and are rarely explored.

OBJECTIVE

To explore the psychosocial impacts of surviving childhood cancer and reassimilation back into society in young adult survivors of childhood cancer.

METHODOLOGY

Individual in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with childhood cancer survivors and explored psychosocial aspects associated with returning to work, school, and social environments after remission. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was conducted once interviews were manually transcribed. A group interview with survivors was held to discuss the study's findings and interpretation.

RESULTS

Individual interviews and the group interview revealed three major themes: outlook on reassimilating, outlook on coping, and outlook on cancer.

CONCLUSIONS

This work is a first step to understanding how survivors' personal outlook on coping and healthcare system barriers play influential roles in reassimilation following cancer treatment. Survivors expressed the need for reliable survivorship information and improved communication with healthcare providers regarding what to expect, so they could feel prepared for life post-cancer. These aspects need to be explored more deeply through other qualitative studies.