More than 100,000 people are newly diagnosed with cancer each year in Australia (AIHW, CA, & AACR, 2008. Despite increasing survival rates, cancer remains the second most common cause of death for men and women in Australia (AIHW, 2012). Social workers, particularly in many public hospital settings, engage with cancer patients and their families as part of a multidisciplinary support team. Meaning making approaches are a key focus of this work. This chapter presents an overview of meaning-making approaches in the Australian context. The particular goals of clinical work are described, that is, encouragement of meaning and purpose while recognizing suffering, promoting coherence, and strengthening meaning in relation to others. This broad discussion of key principles and interventions leads to the introduction of MaP Therapy. This intervention reflects other Australian models of meaning-making approaches, attending particularly to cultural and contextual factors.

Item Type:	Research Book Chapter
Keywords:	Meaning making approaches, Psycho-social, Social work
Research Division:	Psychology
Research Group:	Other psychology
Research Field:	Other psychology not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Health
Objective Group:	Provision of health and support services
Objective Field:	Mental health services
UTAS Author:	Lethborg, C (Dr Carolyn Lethborg)
ID Code:	153776
Year Published:	2015
Deposited By:	UTAS Centre for Rural Health
Deposited On:	2022-10-05
Last Modified:	2022-11-07
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