Hopefulness and its characteristics in adolescents with cancer

Hopefulness in adolescents with cancer serves critical functions related to the adolescents' sense of rt ell-being and commitment to treatment. Given these critical functions, it is important to determine the essential charac teristics of hopefulness, which include the degree and dynamism of hopfulne ss and the nature and attributes of hoped-for objects. The purposes of this two-site study were to describe the degree and dynamism of hopefulness at four time points during the first 6 months of adolescents' treatment for ne wly diagnosed cancel; to identify and describe the adolescents' hoped-for o bjects, and to evaluate potential relationships between the characteristics of hopefulness and patient gender age, diagnosis, and lime point in treatm ent. Seventy-eight adolescents completed the Hopefulness Scale for Adolesce nts, the Hopelessness Scale, and the Hopefulness Interview Question at each time point. Hopefulness scores were higher and hopelessness scores substan tially lower than reported in other tested samples. Adolescents identified a total of 57 different hopes. Differences by age, gender and diagnosis wer e found.