Enabling hope

Abstract

This article explores the psychological concept of hope as it applies to patients with cancer and their families. Hope is an essential element in the lives of those with cancer, because it enables the living to continue on and the dying to die better. Nurses are in a unique position for enabling hope within the patient and family unit, due to the extensive contact they have with patients during the cumulative hospitalizations and outpatient care involved in cancer treatment. The role of oncology nurses in enabling realistic hope is discussed, and a number of nursing approaches toward this end are described. Examples of immediate, short-term, and long-term goals are presented. The article further explains how nurses become catalysts as they help the patient and family unit plan goals together.