Posttraumatic growth experiences in muslim families with early adolescents living with leukemia

The presence of early adolescents with leukemia causes turmoil in the family. This research aimed to explore posttraumatic growth experiences in Muslim families with early adolescents living with leukemia. The finding was expected to improve the understanding of posttraumatic growth experiences, which will be useful in providing support for families of young leukemia sufferers so that they can go through these suffering life events with positive adjustments and a better quality of life.This research employed a qualitative design with a phenomenology approach. This design suited the aim of this research which was to explore the meaning of life experiences in Muslim families with early adolescents living with leukemia. This research involved 18 Muslim families living with early adolescents who have been undergoing leukemia treatment for at least 6 months. The respondents were recruited by purposive sampling and snowball sampling techniques at a national cancer hospital in Jakarta, Indonesia. Data were collected by using in-depth interviews and non-participatory observation until data saturation. Thematic analysis was used for data analysis. Member checking and triangulation methods were confirmed for trustworthiness. The findings revealed that Muslim families reported the experiences of posttraumatic growth as a result of struggling with profound life difficulties from leukemia diagnosis of their early adolescents. The very hard life experiences since leukemia were viewed as personal social spiritual growth. The view of posttraumatic growth as personal social spiritual growth was described with three subthemes: the acknowledgment of God's mighty power, the improvement of relationships with others, and the provision of self-development opportunities. Supports needed for posttraumatic growth experiences in Muslim families living with early adolescents with leukemia included the need for financial support, psychological support, social support, and spiritual support. The Muslim families needed financial support because of: a decrease in family income, increased in families' spending for commuting to the hospital, daily expenses during hospital stays, and some medications which were not covered by social insurance. Psychological support is needed to smooth and strengthen the families, provide reassurance that they were not alone, and strengthen during invasive procedures. The families needed social support to help them in making adaptation to the life changes and difficulties as resulted from leukemia. Spiritual support was needed to calm down the self, give a sense of trust and assurance in keeping their life with leukemia.The life of Muslim families with early adolescents living with leukemia involved the experiences of suffering to turbulent then to family adjustment. This experience included the experiences of family conflicts, psychosocial problems, and family adjustment. The families' conflicts that have resulted from leukemia included family separation, family's financial problems, conflicts on availability of alternative care providers, family communication problem, and conflicts with relatives. The family adjustment involved: putting the care of the sick adolescent as the first family priority, redefining the family's responsibilities, and changing the family's health practices. The families experience psychosocial problems because they struggled with their own emotional distress and dealt with the emotional distress of the sick adolescents. Cancer stigma, burdens of care, and jealousy to non-cancer families created social isolation experiences among the parents. The profound difficult life events from leukemia have brought posttraumatic growth (PTG) experiences to family members which are viewed as personal social spiritual growth. The process of family growth involved the experiences of suffering and turbulent which needed many supports. Further study is recommended to explore the process of PTG, so appropriate support can be provided to sick adolescents and their families.