Supportive Care

The Changing Hope Trajectory in Patients With Advanced-Stage Cancer: A Nursing Perspective

Judith Brown Sanders

Julia S. Seda

Carl G. Kardinal

advance care planning
CJON 2012, 16(3), 241-242. DOI: 10.1188/12.CJON.241-242

As patients with advanced-stage cancer move from the initial diagnosis through treatment, remission, recurrence, and advanced-stage disease, the hope trajectory undergoes a dynamic transformation. By identifying the hope trajectory, nurses can help patients focus on obtainable hope objects while balancing the need to present a realistic prognosis. This, in turn, may help patients find meaning and purpose in advanced-stage cancer and facilitate realistic hope when faced with a life-threatening illness.

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