Purpose: Many lives are affected by cancer. The number of people in England who have had a diagnosis of cancer exceeds one million. Previous research shows that one third of patients have unmet needs post-discharge from cancer treatment, including psychological issues such as negative impacts on self-identity and a lack of meaning in life. Studies have identified identity as an important factor in meaning making, but evidence regarding cancer’s impact on identity is limited to specific cancer sites and specific identity roles. Little is known about cancer’s general impact on global identity or how threats to identity relate to meaning making. The aim of this study was to understand patients’ experiences of cancer’s impact on their identity and what sense they made of these experiences. Methods: Twelve participants in the post-treatment phase of cancer shared their experiences in individual semi-structured interviews. Key themes regarding identity and meaning making in the post-treatment phase were identified using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Results and Conclusions: Four key themes in the participants’ experiences were identified. These were 1) disrupted identity roles, 2) highlights what is important, 3) focused on priorities, and 4) reducing awareness of loss and uncertainty. Relevant literature and implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed.

By using the theoretical framework developed by Schaefer and Moos (1998), this study examined the mechanisms through which personal beliefs in ultimate justice affect posttraumatic growth in female survivors of sexual assault. Problem solving, spiritual coping, and meaning making were examined as potential mediators between beliefs in ultimate justice and posttraumatic growth through a path analysis. In total, 144 female community survivors, psychology students, and other participants were recruited from a large mid-western university (mean age = 29.3). The online survey was composed of a demographic questionnaire, the Revised Sexual Experiences Survey (Koss et al., 2007), Emotion Thermometer (Mitchell, 2001), Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996), Belief in Immanent and Ultimate Justice Scale (Maes, 1998), Trauma Resilience Scale (Madsen & Abell, 2010), and the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (Steger, Frazier, Oishi, & Kaler, 2006). Results indicate that problem solving and spirituality significantly mediated the relationship between belief in ultimate justice and posttraumatic growth. Search for meaning significantly mediated the relationship between beliefs in ultimate justice and distress. Implications for practice and research are discussed. Keywords: sexual assault, posttraumatic growth, belief in a just world, meaning making, coping

There is a paucity of literature into the first-person account of hearing voices (HV)1, particularly from diverse cultural groups. This research aimed to explore the meaning-making of African-Caribbean men who have heard voices, within a social constructionist framework. Five participants were recruited via community networks and individually interviewed. Narrative analysis was employed to illustrate both individual and collective stories of HV. Four emerging storylines were constructed: 'Storylines of the changing understandings of hearing voices over time', 'Recovery: Reformation, Redemption and Restoration', 'Storylines of family life and understandings of culture and race', and 'From Silence to Freedom: Speaking Out and Reaching Out'. Findings of this research suggest re-storying HV outside of a medical framework, with voice-hearers' meaning-making of the voices an integral part of understanding the phenomenon, in the context of psycho-social and cultural factors. Implications for de-mystifying voice-hearing, particularly in African-Caribbean communities, are considered in the context of promoting education and awareness of HV through community-based approaches, cross-cultural working and supporting the voice of expert by experience, in the hope of challenging dominant discourses attached to HV. Future research suggestions are discussed and researcher reflexivity concludes the study.

Previous research on the symptoms of Moral Injury suggests that it commonly results in clinical impairment (Drescher et al., 2011). Recent models have suggested that Acceptance and Meaning-Making may moderate the relationship between Moral Injury and Posttraumatic Growth (Blackie et al., 2016). However, Meaning-Making and Acceptance have yet to be examined in a population with Moral Injury. Data were collected from 120 participants from Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) online marketplace. Participation was restricted to U.S. military and veterans who have experienced a traumatic event. Participants completed a demographics questionnaire (Seidler, 2016), the Posttraumatic Checklist (PCL; Weathers et al., 2013), the Moral Injury Questionnaire-Military Version (MIQ-M; Currier, Holland, Drescher, & Foy, 2013), the Integration of Stressful Live Events Scale (ISLES; Holland, Currier, Coleman, & Neimeyer, 2010), the Acceptance Subscale of the Multidimensional Psychological Flexibility Inventory (MPFI; Rolffs, Rogge, & Wilson, 2016), and The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1995). This study tested the following research hypotheses: 1) Scores for Meaning-Making and Acceptance will significantly and positively predict scores for Posttraumatic Growth in a sample population with PTSD; 2) Scores for Meaning-Making and Acceptance will moderate the relationship between measures of Moral Injury and Posttraumatic Growth, with higher scores of Meaning-Making and Acceptance resulting in higher scores of Posttraumatic Growth and lower scores of Meaning-Making and Acceptance resulting in lower scores of Posttraumatic Growth; 3) Three distinct groups of people can be high and low scores for Moral Injury and symptoms of PTSD. In contrast to the hypothesis, both Acceptance of negative emotions and Meaning-Making demonstrated direct effects but did not moderate the relation between Moral Injury and Posttraumatic Growth. Acceptance also appears to partially mediate the relationship between Moral Injury and PTG. The results of the cluster analysis identified three groups of participants based primarily on scores for Moral Injury, namely those with high, low and moderate scores. Participants with high Moral Injury scores had high scores for PTSD symptoms. The other two groups had moderate PTSD symptom scores. Implications of findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Perinatal loss (stillbirth or the death of a neonate) can result in considerable psycho-social disruption for mothers. As women grieve, they try to make meaning of the death of their baby. In contexts of social and economic deprivation, perinatal loss often occurs alongside other difficulties which may affect and limit women's ability to make meaning. A narrative approach was used to explore how meaning-making functions in such contexts. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 women who had experienced perinatal loss while attending a state maternity hospital. Narratives which the mothers constructed of the event were examined in order to understand what meanings they derived from the loss, and how these were (or not) achieved. These narratives were often linked to other stories of pervasive life difficulties. Despite their difficult contexts, the bereaved mothers engaged in meaning-making in similar ways to those described in previous studies in more affluent settings: they attempted to integrate the loss with their identity and goals, they affirmed the baby as a real person to be mourned and they searched for reasons for the loss. The effect of their contexts on meaning-making was mediated by social support and personal agency. Where one or both of these were present, the bereaved mothers were able to find meaning in their loss; women who had neither seemed unable to do so. Those who portrayed themselves as agentic were able to reflect on their experience and make decisions to change their lives. Mothers with strong social support made meaning through conversations, social validation of the loss and social help which mitigated against the sense of helplessness engendered by their loss and circumstances. It is recommended that hospital and counselling services implement practices which help to build or consolidate personal agency and social support to facilitate successful meaning-making following perinatal loss.

The purpose of the present study was to detect the existence of a general pattern in the development of meaning over time, and if such a pattern existed, to compare it with certain points in Jean Piaget's theory of intelligence and in a theory concept formation as suggested by Lev Vygotsky.

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