Every cloud has a silver lining: An exploratory study of cancer patients

Pages: 58-65
Sandeep Kaur (Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology, Ludhiana, Punjab)

The life of each and every individual is being influenced by the adversities of varying magnitudes. One of the most disturbing adversities may come in the form of sickness. The quality of life of an individual can take a toll when he acquires the news of cancer and undergoing the turmoil of subsequent treatment. However taking a positive approach like finding a Silver lining and maintaining it can do wonder in fighting with this deadly disease. The present study is an attempt to explore a silver lining among the 100 cancer patients in Ludhiana city. To get the data from the patients a brief interview session was followed by a structured questionnaire. The findings revealed that the perception of silver lining was on the moderate level .The patients were not much worried about what would happen to them rather they were of in solace that their families are doing much for them. They had realized that fact they could come out of this illness only when they would accept and fight with it. Male patients turned out to be more close to silver lining than their counterparts. Unmarried patients were also more close to hope to come out of it rather than married patients. The reason could be that they did not have any liabilities as the married patients had. The similar findings were also depicted in the analysis of variance for number of dependents. No significant differences were found for the concept of silver lining for the demographic variables age and type of the cancer. Similar mean scores were reported in both the groups