Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27678379›Full record

ArticleSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2017

Lost and stranded: the experience of younger adults with advanced cancer.

Matthew K Knox, Sarah Hales, Rinat Nissim, Judy Jung, Christopher Lo, Camilla Zimmermann, Gary Rodin

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
22citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
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  5. "I had no idea what to expect": adolescent and young adults with cancer identify opportunities for patient-centered anticipatory guidance through narrative writing.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025
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  6. Review
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  13. Caregiver bereavement outcomes in advanced cancer: associations with quality of death and patient age.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2022
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  14. Article
  15. Article
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  18. Convalescent Hospital Use among Young and Older Female Cancer Survivors.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021
    Article
  19. Social consequences of advanced cancer in patients and their informal caregivers: a qualitative study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2019
    Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Matthew K KnoxDepartment of Psychiatry, St. Joseph's Health Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Sarah HalesDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Rinat NissimDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Judy JungMulti-Organ Transplant Program, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Christopher LoDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Camilla ZimmermannDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Gary RodinDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. gary.rodin@uhn.ca.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeThere has been increased awareness recently of the unique medical and psychosocial needs of adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer. However, the existing AYA literature is mainly focused on curative disease or survivorship rather than on advanced disease. Using qualitative methodology, we sought to understand the experience of younger adults with advanced cancer.

methodsParticipants were interviewed using open-ended, discovery-oriented interviews. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis. In total, ten English-speaking advanced cancer patients who were being treated at a comprehensive cancer center in Canada, were interviewed. Participants were between the ages of 18 and 35, and seven of them were female.

resultsThe diagnosis of cancer was universally experienced as isolating and unexpected, with serious illness regarded as a problem of older individuals. The core challenge of living in the face of dying was felt to be constantly present yet typically unarticulated. Meaning-making tended to be constructed around future-oriented goals rather than upon the life that had been lived. Individuals felt forcefully removed from the stream of life, with a perceived interruption in the developmental tasks of establishing adult identity, becoming autonomous, and forming new relationships. All cited a need for young adult-specific services, yet none could describe specific services that would be beneficial. Many expressed reluctance to engage in individual psychotherapeutic treatment.

conclusionsAdvanced cancer in younger adults was perceived by them as isolating and as interfering with age-appropriate developmental tasks. Creative and flexible psychosocial support programs are needed to engage this population with limited expected survival.

Indexed as

AdolescentAdultFemaleHumansMaleNeoplasmsQualitative ResearchTerminal CareYoung AdultAdolescentAdvanced cancerEnd-of-life carePsychosocial oncologyQualitative researchYoung adult

Identifiers

PMID27678379

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.