Confronting Cancer’s Tradition: Redefinition and Resistance in Hope Formation among Wives of Men with Cancer in Iran

Background: Hope is a vital psychological resource that enables caregivers to endure and adapt to the challenges of a serious illness. In a broader qualitative study on hope formation among wives of men with cancer, several intrapersonal and extra-personal foundations were identified. This paper focuses on two key intrapersonal processes — Redefining Cancer and Rising against and Coping with it — to examine their internal dynamics more deeply. Objectives: The objective of this study was to explore how the two intrapersonal processes of redefining cancer and rising against and coping with it enable wives of men with cancer to reconstruct hope and reclaim a sense of agency within their caregiving role. Methods: A qualitative design guided by conventional content analysis was employed. Eleven wives of men with cancer (aged 29 - 55) were purposively recruited, and data saturation was reached after the 11th in-depth, semi-structured interview. Data were analyzed using Graneheim and Lundman’s five-step framework, generating 988 initial codes. Of these, 54 were clustered under two primary categories that form the analytical focus of this article. Results: Two key intrapersonal processes underlying hope formation emerged: (1) Redefining cancer and its aspects, involving the perception of the “cancer tradition” as both a destructive force and a potential catalyst for growth; and (2) rising against and coping, encompassing recognition of crisis, mobilization of agency, and reliance on goals and self-directed learning. Conclusions: This study demonstrates how caregiving spouses reconstruct hope and reclaim agency by redefining cancer and rising against its “tradition” as an oppressive cultural order. It introduces two novel intrapersonal cycles that link metaphor, meaning, and agency in the formation of hope, thereby offering a culturally sensitive conceptual lens for psycho-oncological supports and counseling practice with wives of men with cancer.