An Exploration of Illness Narrative on Chinese Osteosarcoma Survivors

Background: The nuanced experiences of cancer survivorship have been proven to significantly inform the psychosocial oncology care for different types of cancer survivors. Exploring the long-term survivorship experiences of osteosarcoma survivors is not only a witness to sparking moments in their life course experience but also helps professionals understand their unmet psychosocial needs.

Objective: This study aims to explore the illness narrative and coping experience of Chinese osteosarcoma survivors to understand their psychosocial needs.

Methods: A qualitative research design and narrative inquiry interviews were employed. Twelve osteosarcoma survivors were recruited using purposeful sampling with at least 1 year of survivorship. The interview data were audio-recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed for interpretation.

Results: Three illness narrative themes were found to align with Frank's illness narrative framework: (1) “Chaos: unknown,” (2) “Restitution: a turning point,” and (3) “Quest: identity and values.” These illness narratives archive the survivors’ post-traumatic identity and value reconfiguration. In addition, alternative narratives with nuanced experiences indicated the survival identity beyond the illness narrative framework, emphasizing that the narrative approach facilitated the revelation of nuances in cancer survivors’ narratives.

Conclusion: This study shows that narrative methods provide an alternative perspective for understanding osteosarcoma survivors’ experiences as a “narration” psychosocial needs evaluation. This study highlights the dynamics of illness narratives and the need for sustained long-term psychological support for osteosarcoma survivors. Specifically, (1) narrative approaches serve as a psychological empowerment process for osteosarcoma survivors that can facilitate personal value reconfiguration, and (2) there is a need to rethink the integration of medical and psycho-oncology practices in a narrative perspective to inform the exploration of nuanced experiences of Chinese cancer survivors. These results emphasized the role of psychological support in helping cancer survivors struggling with cancer treatment.