Hope as a Clinical Issue in Oncology Social Work

Abstract

A valuable resource that is often overlooked in counseling cancer patients is their natural feeling of hope. Coping is aside from not only by the replation of negative feelings such as anger, denial, fear, and depression but by the enhancement of positive feelings as well. Making hope a focal point of therapy can provide a necessary balance to practitioners who find that they focus too often on their patients' negative reactions to cancer. A framework for focusing on hope in the counseling situation - developed from the concepts of Viktor Frankl's logot a therapy and from recent research in psychosocial oncology-led to the formulation of five practical guidelines for assessing and enhancing a patient's hope. Special attention is given to the tasks of identifying a patient's source of hope, is distinguising authentic hope from denial and using hope as a means of changing maladaptive coping behaviors.