Children's Cancer Camps: A Way to Understand Grief Differently

A philosophical hermeneutic study was conducted as part of the first author's doctoral research to understand the meaning of children's cancer camps for the child with cancer and the family. Twenty family members from six families were interviewed in order to bring understanding to this to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Omega: Journal of Death and Dying 2015-03, Vol.70 (4), p.436-453
Main Authors: Laing, Catherine M., Moules, Nancy J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Adult
Camping - psychology
Camps
Cancer
Child
Childhood
Children
Exegesis & hermeneutics
Families & family life
Family - psychology
Family Relations
Female
Grief
Hermeneutics
Humans
Male
Medical philosophy
Neoplasms - psychology
Neoplasms - rehabilitation
Parent-Child Relations
Parents - psychology
Pediatrics
Social Support
Therapeutic Community
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Summary:A philosophical hermeneutic study was conducted as part of the first author's doctoral research to understand the meaning of children's cancer camps for the child with cancer and the family. Twenty family members from six families were interviewed in order to bring understanding to this topic. This article will detail the finding related to the experience of grief that often accompanies a cancer diagnosis, and how camp seems to allow children and families to understand their grief differently. The interesting thing about this particular cancer camp is that families of children who have died continue to attend the camp yearly, and there are events to memorialize the many children known to all the campers who no longer attend camp. This is not a grief camp but a cancer camp where grief is allowed presence as it necessarily has to in the world of childhood cancer.
ISSN:0030-2228
1541-3764
DOI:10.1177/0030222815572605