Kudos to PhD student Eunji Cho and her sponsor Sharron Docherty for the submission of their Society of Pediatric Nurses application entitled “Beyond Growth: Human Flourishing in Adolescent and Young Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancer." This proposal requests funding for a six-month period with a start date of January 1, 2017.

Abstract: Childhood cancer and its treatment are known to have a life-changing impact on the individual and family both during treatment and across the life course trajectory of survivorship. Despite the well-documented physical and psychosocial challenges and distress experienced by children and adolescents undergoing cancer treatment, a unique cohort of young adult survivors describe a trajectory of positive growth, and the ability to move beyond the period of distress and suffering to emerge with a high quality of life, having experienced remarkable positive growth and development. In the 1990s this process of enduring through adversity to experience growth was called post traumatic growth. More recently, human flourishing, a concept introduced into health care in the past decade, moves beyond the positive affect, life satisfaction and happiness, to the development of qualities such as autonomy, sense of mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, self-acceptance and a purpose in life.  Human flourishing describes living within an optimal range of functioning with fulfillment in purpose, meaning, and happiness, and the cultivation of meaning.  It has potential to capture the unique experience and life course trajectories of this cohort of young adult survivors of childhood cancer. A beginning understanding of the nature, breadth and depth of human flourishing in young adult survivors of childhood cancer may lead to studies that may predict those with a capacity towards flourishing and the development of interventions to increase this capacity in children and adolescents undergoing cancer treatment. Preliminary to the development of a study of flourishing in young adult survivors of childhood cancer, the purpose of this study is to explore pediatric oncology health care providers' (physicians; registered and advanced practice nurses; social workers; child life therapists) experiences with adolescent and young adult flourishing following childhood cancer treatment. An exploratory survey design will be used to gather health care providers' stories and critical attributes used to describe their experiences with flourishing individuals. A quota sampling technique will used to sample 30 pediatric oncology physicians (n=5), nurses (n=10), nurse practitioners (n=5), social workers (n=5), and child life therapists (n=5) who are currently providing care to children and adolescents undergoing cancer treatment. Participants will complete an electronic survey containing five open-ended questions asking them to describe their experiences with a patient(s) who they cared for who went on to flourish as survivors. A content analysis technique will be applied to text survey data. The findings of this study will provide a foundation to understanding the depth, breadth, and critical components flourishing in cancer survivors.