Adolescent Experience With Parental Cancer and Involvement With Medical Professionals: A Heuristic Phenomenological Inquiry

Abstract

Experiencing the death of a loved one can be a difficult occurrence. Adolescents, in particular, experience death in a unique way. Yet there is relatively little research on adolescents’ experience with parental death and their involvement in the medical setting during a parent’s terminal illness. This qualitative study utilized heuristic inquiry, a type of phenomenological research, to investigate adolescents’ involvement in the hospital setting during parental terminal illness. Qualitative analysis of participants’ experiences resulted in two primary categories associated with adolescents’ involvement with medical professionals during parental illness: factors influencing hospital involvement and experience with health care professionals. The findings have implications for medical and mental health professionals who work with adolescent family members of terminally ill patients.