Download Themes

Theme
Emotions
Codes
Positive Emotions:
acceptance, no regrets
Negative Emotions:
disbelief, shock, surprise,
overwhelmed, depressed,
stressed, detachment
Time Spent
Time with parent
Lack of time with parent
Physical proximity to
parent
Impact on
Relationship
with Parent
Tension and frustration
No impact
Comfort
Preparation of parent:
financial preparation,
mentally/emotionally
ready
Family: funeral planning,
physical proximity to
participant, ability to
listen
Personal Life Occupation
College
Caretaker role
Examples
“At some point you just say, ‘Okay, I’ve accepted
it’” -A
“There’s no regrets” -A
“It hadn’t really sunk in that it was real.” -A
“I would say up until the day she died there was
still ‘is it really truly?’” -A
“It was almost like you didn’t really digest that
that was cancer, it was almost like someone got
hit by a car” -D
“It was like an emotional roller-coaster” -D
“I had an opportunity to spend time with her over
this” -A
“Three times a week at least”
“Just went down there one time, once to see him”
-D
“She was very, very close” -A
“He was in this city and I was in this city. So,
about three hours” -D
“She was more of an invalid than needed to be
during a lot of that time and when no one was
looking she was up and running just perfectly
fine” -A
“She always wanted to be the one dying of and
getting all the attention” -A
“I can’t say it was impacted one way or another”
-A
“It didn’t have as big of an impact on me” -D
“It was a comfort, you know, that she was
prepared, she was ready, that she wasn’t trying to
be a burden with her passing” -A
“My brother and sister… we were all
coordinating on it” -A
“The whole family was here. So, it wasn’t a
difficult thing” -A
“Just family… they would talk and listen” -D
“I was technically unemployed, so I actually had
time to spend with her and I did not go for a new
job” -A
“I had to take an incomplete. I wouldn’t be there
for finals” -D
It was my senior year, but I came back to do a
fifth year” -D
“I probably went over there… at least twice a
week on this ‘oh, it’s an emergency, I need x’. -A
Emotions
Time Spent
Impact on Relationship with
Parent
Sources of Comfort
Personal Life
Apollo
Disbelief, acceptance, no
regrets
Lived close to parent, able to
spend extensive time with
them
No impact, frustration
Preparation of parent, family
proximity and help with
funeral planning
Remained unemployed,
became a caretaker
Apollo
Drawing: A kidney with multiple cancerous
tumors
Influenced by the experience of his mother
Referenced the spread of cancer to multiple
organs
Chose to draw the cancer in red because it
seemed to be the “dangerous color”
Diana
Disbelief, shock,
overwhelmed, shock,
depressed, stressed, detached
Lived several hours from
parent, one visit before
parent’s passing
No impact
Family
Missed finals senior year of
college
Diana
Drawing: A skinny, young boy on his tippy
toes, has difficulty walking and keeping his
balanced
Influenced by the experience of her nephew
Referenced the effects of chemotherapy