Yvonne Weeseman, Michael Scherer-Rath, Nirav Christophe, Henny Dörr, Mirjam Sprangers, Esther Helmich, Niels van Poecke, Hanneke van Laarhoven
Abstract
To support patients with cancer in a palliative treatment phase with the integration of experiences of contingency into their life narrative, we developed a multi-modal approach: In Search of Stories (ISOS). ISOS consists of the following elements: filling out the self-report RE-LIFE questionnaire, drawing of Rich Pictures, and reading an exemplary story with a spiritual counselor, followed by a co-creation process with a professional artist
Introduction
Living with cancer in a palliative treatment phase can be experienced as a confrontation with the randomness of life, which may profoundly disrupt one’s life narrative [1,2]. This disruption can create an interpretation crisis where existential questions such as ‘what is the meaning of my life?’, or ‘how do I relate to my own mortality?’, are brought to the forefront of one’s mind. Patients may start to doubt the fundamentals of their own life, including important life goals [2–8].
Materials and methods
This study has a qualitative design [19]. The elements of ISOS are explained in detail in paragraph 2.2. In Fig 1 the timeline of ISOS is presented. Numbers (1–9) of the timeline correspond to numbers used in the text.
Results
The two patient trajectories took place between January 2022 and August 2022, at the hospital where the spiritual counselor was employed, the patient’s home and the professional artist’s studio.
Discussion
This article describes the experiences of patients with advanced cancer during integration of experiences of contingency within the setting of the ISOS project. These two cases illustrated how a process of integration of experiences of contingency was initiated and may unfold.
Conclusion
The current study provides preliminary insight into how patients can go through a process of integration of experiences of contingency into their life narrative, which could inform the development of future support for patients with advanced cancer dealing with experiences of contingency.
Citation: Weeseman Y, Scherer-Rath M, Christophe N, Dörr H, Sprangers M, Helmich E, et al. (2025) Integration of experiences of contingency in patients with advanced cancer supported by a multimodal art approach. PLoS ONE 20(4): e0319918. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0319918
Editor: Diaa Ahmed Mohamed Ahmedien, Helwan University, Faculty of Art Education, EGYPT
Received: June 1, 2024; Accepted: February 10, 2025; Published: April 8, 2025
Copyright: © 2025 Weeseman et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Data Availability: The data underlying the results presented in the study are available for researchers who meet the criteria for access to confidential data. Please contact: Amsterdam University Medical Centers Cancer Centre Amsterdam Location VUmc De Boelelaan 1118 Amsterdam Email: cca@amsterdamumc.nl Drive Path: Z:\RESEARCH\Contingentie Cultuur en Oncologie\In Search of Stories (ISOS).
Funding: This study was funded by the Dutch Cancer Society, grant number 11507. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
