ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Minerva Pediatrica 2010 February;62(1):43-50

Copyright © 2010 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

Narrative inquiries representations and self-esteem in the child affected by tumor: a pre-test pilot study

Perricone G. ¹, Morales M. R. ², Polizzi C. ³, Fontana V. ⁴ ✉

¹ Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e dell’Educazione, Facoltà di Scienze della Formazione, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italia; ² Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italia; ³ Dipartimento di Psicologia, Facoltà di Scienze della Formazione, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italia; ⁴ Psicologa

AIM: The contribution reports on a pre-test pilot study, based on the single-case method (N>1 and N=1 one by one), aimed to investigate whether resilience factors regards self-narrative representation, self-esteem and their likely correlations in child suffering from tumour.
METHODS: The administration of specific investigation instruments (TMA – multidimensional self-esteem test, and a narrative inquiry framed on purpose) has been planned by the survey. The participating subjects set up a group of 7 children, 10 year olds, suffering from tumour. The individuation of such subjects has been carried out in terms of some “drawing variables” such as the existence of tumour, its diagnosis (12 months before commencing the research), the continuity of medical treatment and the lack of terminal stage of disease.
RESULTS: The study has highlighted the lack of a statistically remarkable impairment of self-narrative and self-esteem in children suffering from tumour belonging to the reference group. These levels of self-narrative and self-esteem are possible resilience factors in children suffering from tumour.
CONCLUSION: The acquired data about specific resilience elements in child suffering from tumor directs to research with national and international sample.