TY - JOUR
T1 - Caregiver Perceptions of Their Influence on Cancer Treatment Decision Making
T2 - Intersections of Language, Identity, and Illness
AU - Krieger, Janice L.
AU - Palmer-Wackerly, Angela L.
AU - Krok-Schoen, Jessica L.
AU - Dailey, Phokeng M.
AU - Wojno, Julianne C.
AU - Schoenberg, Nancy
AU - Paskett, Electra D.
AU - Dignan, Mark
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by a grant from the National Cancer Institute #U54 CA153604 (Appalachian Community Cancer Network).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2015.
PY - 2015/12/1
Y1 - 2015/12/1
N2 - Serious illness of a loved one can disrupt a caregiver’s sense of self and relationships. We examined the language caregivers use to describe the cancer treatment decision making of a loved one to understand how caregivers frame their own identity relative to a patient’s illness. We analyzed transcripts from in-depth interviews conducted with caregivers (N = 58) of cancer patients to examine the intersection among language, identity, and illness. Caregivers with a patient-level personal identity frame used phrases such as their body, their decision. Caregivers with a relational identity frame used plural pronouns such as we or our when describing the treatment decision. Importantly, some caregivers perceived an illness identity gap in that the patients’ perceptions of their illness identity differed from their own. Illness identity gaps are theorized to be associated with treatment decision making more closely aligned with intergroup, rather than interpersonal, processes.
AB - Serious illness of a loved one can disrupt a caregiver’s sense of self and relationships. We examined the language caregivers use to describe the cancer treatment decision making of a loved one to understand how caregivers frame their own identity relative to a patient’s illness. We analyzed transcripts from in-depth interviews conducted with caregivers (N = 58) of cancer patients to examine the intersection among language, identity, and illness. Caregivers with a patient-level personal identity frame used phrases such as their body, their decision. Caregivers with a relational identity frame used plural pronouns such as we or our when describing the treatment decision. Importantly, some caregivers perceived an illness identity gap in that the patients’ perceptions of their illness identity differed from their own. Illness identity gaps are theorized to be associated with treatment decision making more closely aligned with intergroup, rather than interpersonal, processes.
KW - cancer clinical trials
KW - communication theory of identity
KW - family decision making
KW - illness identity
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U2 - 10.1177/0261927X15587556
DO - 10.1177/0261927X15587556
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84946124947
SN - 0261-927X
VL - 34
SP - 640
EP - 656
JO - Journal of Language and Social Psychology
JF - Journal of Language and Social Psychology
IS - 6
ER -