Closeness in Crisis: A Proposal for Identifying Resilience in Couples Who Face the Crisis of Cancer in Their Child

Abstract

The research proposal presented in the following thesis paper outlines an approach to couples who parent a child diagnosed and treated for childhood cancer. It is an approach that challenges deficit models and supports recent trends toward strengths-based research paradigms in pursuit of the hypothesis that many couples become closer and demonstrate greater resilience in the face of crisis. A grounded theory approach is outlined, combining narrative externalizing (White & Epston, 1990) and response-based (Todd & Wade, 2007) questions. From these questions a semi-structured interview method is developed which highlights the couples’ response in the context of the illness experience (Wright, Watson & Bell, 1996), rather than focusing exclusively on effects. It is proposed that these responses, coded as resiliency factors, may further the work of couple and family counsellors who endeavor to promote we-awareness (Skerret, 2003, p. 70) and relational resilience (Jordan, 1993, p. 1) in their own client populations.