Attitude to Life and Death in Adolescents with Oncological Disease

Abstract

The article discusses the attitude towards life and death in adolescents with cancer. The behavioral, cognitive and emotional components of the attitude to life and death in adolescents with cancer are described. Surveyed 83 teenagers. The main group - adolescents with cancer in remission (41 people), the average age of adolescents was 14 ± 1.1 years. The time spent in the department of rehabilitation treatment ranged from 7 to 21 days. The comparison group - pupils of Secondary School №7 (42 people), the average age of adolescents was 14 ± 1.1 years. Psychodiagnostic methods were used: 1) Death Attitude Profile-Revised Questionnaire; 2) Questionnaire with elements of an associative experiment, specially designed for the study; 3) Drawing projective technique “Drawing life and death”, R.V. Kadyrov. In the course of the study, the influence of the characteristics of attitudes towards life and death on the process of rehabilitation treatment and rehabilitation was revealed. Differences in attitudes towards life and death in adolescents also identified. In adolescents with cancer, the fear of death is more pronounced, the concept of life after death has more religious ideas than in the comparison group, and death perceived as a way to avoid life problems. They are less responsible about their future, the concept of the meaning of life is abstract or not formed.

Keywords

• oncological diseases
• attitude to life and death
• attitude
• fear of death
• meaning of life
• adolescence