Hope

BIBLIOGRAPHY

In an ancient Greek myth, Zeus was irate at humans for having stolen fire from the gods. In the spirit of revenge, he fashioned a young maiden named Pandora and, using reverse psychology, sent her to earth with a dowry chest, with the crucial instruction not to open it. Of course, her curiosity got the best of her, and she opened the lid. Out came a plague of evil forces. Panicked at what she had unleashed, Pandora tried to close the chest, only to find that hope was stuck on the lid. Hope could overcome the evil forces unleashed. Thus hope came into the world.

A young couple stood at the graveside of their two twin daughters, born prematurely, as a circle of family and friends sang the hymn, “Lead, Kindly Light, Amid the Encircling Gloom.” Having their precious daughters buried near their great grandparents in a historic cemetery brought them comfort and hope in the face of perinatal loss (Callister 2006). Hopefulness in such situations is a personal, comforting, and life-sustaining belief that even in difficult times, life has meaning. Hope is also a belief that something favorable can happen for oneself or others in the future. P. S. Hinds (1984) defined hope as the human characteristic that allows an individual, irrespective of age, to transcend disappointments, pursue goals, and diminish the sense of the future as unbearable or futile. Hope is a force contributing to a person’s will to live (Cousins 1989).

Detractors to hope exist. It is postulated that inside every person there is a spirit of hopefulness that can be influenced negatively or positively by others. Suffering and feeling alone or unappreciated, along with unaddressed spiritual needs, are some of the challenges to being hopeful.

James Averill and his associates (1990) asked people to describe circumstances in which they thought hope would be important. Responders described periods when they perceived some degree of personal control over their lives, and times when their life goals were important, had a reasonable chance of being reached, and were socially and morally acceptable.

Strategies that contribute to the strengthening of hope include believing in oneself, trusting in the good intentions of others, and feeling close to another person. For many people, faith and religious beliefs also contribute to hopefulness. Hope is vital for those who have been diagnosed with a serious, life-threatening, or terminal illness, as well as for their families. Those who lack hope find no meaning in life or find it difficult to persevere in troubling times. They may lack or lose a sense of well-being, and doubt the possibility of favorable outcomes. The components of hope include “positive thinking or optimism, reality-based and future oriented goals, positive future for self or others, and positive support systems” (Hendricks-Ferguson 1997, p. 76). Hope is essential to negotiating difficult life challenges. Knowing that others have hope for positive outcomes can foster hope in individuals.

On the other hand, hope may be perceived by others as evidence that individuals and families are unrealistically positive. Thus, hope may become simply “magic” when one has a wishful expectation that everything will “turn out all right” based on luck, fate, or the intervention of a higher power. Still, hope can be fostered by reflecting on positive outcomes and by formulating potential goals. Hope thus becomes realistic as one recognizes the existence of limitations or conditions.

Multiple tools have been developed to measure hope, including the adult hope scale developed by C. R. Snyder and colleagues (1991). Eight items are ranked on an eight-point Likert scale from “definitely false” to “definitely true,” with four agency items such as “I energetically pursue my goals.” The higher the score, the higher the level of overall hope. A similar children’s hope scale has also been developed.

Hope has been studied across the lifespan. Kaye Herth (1998) used interviews and drawings to study sixty homeless children who had lived through multiple losses. Themes included connectedness, internal resources, cognitive strategies, energy, and hope objects. The children used symbols in their drawings, most often trees or rainbows, which for them symbolized hope. As one homeless adolescent wrote, “a young tree is very fragile and in need of just the right amount of water and sunlight to grow; hope at first is very fragile but flourishes with care” (Herth 1998, p. 1057). Many of the children drew pictures of houses, with open doorways and flowers and favorite toys, indicating a longing to have a “real home.” One child who drew a sad face explained, “sometimes you have to be sad before you can smile again” (Herth 1998, p. 1058). The adolescents shared stories of significant losses but demonstrated inner strength that sustained their hope. One favorite book at the shelter was The Little Engine that Could, with the hopeful refrain, “I think I can, I think I can.”

Adela Yarcheski and associates (1994) studied ninetynine high school students, finding statistically significant positive correlations between perceived hopefulness and social support, as well as hopefulness and general well-being. Hopefulness was fostered through social interaction, mutuality, attachment, intimacy, affirmation, encouragement, and a nurturing environment. Hopefulness in adolescents with cancer has also been studied and has been linked with improved quality of life and better health even in the face of chronic or terminal illnesses (Hendricks-Ferguson 1997).

Hope is experienced differently by those who are chronically ill than by those who are healthy. Dal Sook Kim and associates (2006) studied hope in chronically ill hospitalized patients and identified five life orientations related to hope:

• Externalism orientation—hope based on reliance on family, friends, or God.
• Pragmatic orientation—hope in the ability to accomplish small things in life.
• Reality orientation—hope manifested by realistically enjoying that which can be.
• Future orientation—hope focused on positive possibilities that may exist in the future, which may include a strong reliance on a higher power; for example, a person may say, “I feel hope in my faith in God” or “I feel hope when I realize that I am in God’s hands.”
• Internal orientation—hope oriented toward the self.

J. M. Morse and B. Doberneck (1995) studied patterns of hope exhibited in a variety of people undergoing different life experiences. Their subjects included breast cancer survivors, individuals waiting for heart transplants, unemployed mothers, and persons with spinal cord injuries. The presence and function of hope has also been studied in people with acute spinal cord injuries (Lohne and Severinsson 2004) and adults undergoing bone marrow transplants for leukemia (Ersek 1992). In Mary Ersek’s study, factors associated with hope included “feelings of powerfulness or control, meaning or purpose in life, adequate social support, and positive self esteem” (1992, p. 883). Ersek identified the structure of hopefulness as:

• Appraising the illness in a nonthreatening manner (seeing it as a positive event).
• Cognitively managing the illness experience (including the practice of joking).
• Managing emotional responses to the illness.
• Managing a sense of control (either maintaining or relinquishing control).
• Taking a stance toward illness and treatment (fighting the illness or accepting it).
• Managing the uncertainty (minimizing or maximizing the uncertainty).
• Focusing on the future (living from day to day or focusing on the long term).
• Viewing the self in relation to the illness (minimizing the illness and maximizing personal strengths).

Further research is needed to increase our understanding of hope, including how to mediate the variables and strategies that enhance hope in individuals across the lifespan. Many experts assume that sources of hope include support from family and significant others, as well as spiritual beliefs (Hendricks-Ferguson 1997). How these sources of hope make a difference merits further inquiry.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Averill, James R., George Catlin, and K. K. Chon. 1990. Rules of Hope. New York: Springer.

Callister, Lynn Clark. 2006. Perinatal Loss: A Family Perspective. Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing 20 (3): 227–234.

Cousins, Norman. 1989. Head First: The Biology of Hope. New York: Dutton.

Ersek, Mary. 1992. The Process of Maintaining Hope in Adults Undergoing Bone Marrow Transplantation for Leukemia. Oncology Nursing Forum 19 (6): 883–889.

Hendricks-Ferguson, Verna L. 1997. An Analysis of the Concept of Hope in the Adolescent with Cancer. Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing 14 (2): 73–80.

Herth, Kaye. 1998. Hope as Seen through the Eyes of Homeless Children. Journal of Advanced Nursing 28 (5): 1053–1062.

Hinds, P. S. 1984. Inducing a Definition of “Hope” through the Use of Grounded Theory Methodology. Journal of Advanced Nursing 9: 357–362.

Kim, Dal Sook, Suzie Kim Hesook, Donna Schwartz-Barcott, and Donna Zucker. 2006. The Nature of Hope in Hospitalized Chronically Ill Patients. International Journal of Nursing Studies 43: 547–556.

Kylma, Jari, and Katri Vehvilainen-Julkunen. 1997. Hope in Nursing Research. Journal of Advanced Nursing 25 (2): 364–371.

Lohne, Vibeke, and Elisabeth Severinsson. 2004. Hope and Despair: The Awakening of Hope Following Acute Spinal Cord Injury—An Interpretive Study. International Journal of Nursing Studies 41: 881–890.

Morse, J. M., and B. Doberneck. 1995. Delineating the Concept of Hope. Image: Journal of Nursing Scholarship 27 (4): 277–286.

Ritchie, Mary Ann. 2001. Self-esteem and Hopefulness in Adolescents with Cancer. Journal of Pediatric Nursing 16 (1): 35–42.

Snyder, C. R., Cheri Harris, John R. Anderson, et al. 1991. The Will and Ways: Development and Validation of an Individual-Differences Measure of Hope. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 60: 570–585.

Yarcheski, Adela, Mary Ann Scoloveno, and Noreen Mahon. 1994. Social Support and Well-being in Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Hopefulness. Nursing Research 43 (5): 288–292.

Lynn Clark Callister

hope / hōp/ • n. 1. a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen: he looked through her belongings in the hope of coming across some information | I had high hopes of making the Olympic team. ∎  a person or thing that may help or save someone: their only hope is surgery. ∎  grounds for believing that something good may happen: he does see some hope for the future. 2. archaic a feeling of trust. • v. [intr.] want something to happen or be the case: he's hoping for an offer of compensation | I hope that the kids are OK. ∎  intend if possible to do something: we're hoping to address all these issues. PHRASES: hope against hope cling to a mere possibility: they were hoping against hope that he would find a way out. hope for the best hope for a favorable outcome. in hopes of with the aim of: I lay on a towel in the park in hopes of getting a tan. in hopes that hoping that: they are screaming in hopes that a police launch will pick us up. not a hope inf. no chance at all.DERIVATIVES: hop·er n.

hope one of the three theological virtues.
hope deferred makes the heart sick proverbial saying, late 14 century, originally with biblical allusion; the implication is that it is worse to have had one's hopes raised and then dashed, than to have been resigned to not having something.
hope for the best and prepare for the worst proverbial saying, mid 16th century, recommending a balance between optimism and realism.
hope is a good breakfast but a bad supper while it is pleasant to begin something in a hopeful mood, the hopes need to have been fulfilled by the time it ends. The saying is recorded from the mid 17th century.
hope springs eternal a view that human nature is instinctively optimistic; this proverbial saying of the mid 18th century derives from Alexander Pope's Essay on Man (1733), ‘Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never Is, but always To be blest.’
if it were not for hope, the heart would break hope wards of complete despair; proverbial saying, mid 13th century.

See also abandon hope, while there's life there's hope, he that lives in hope.

334. Hope (See also Optimism.)

1. anchor emblem of optimism; steadfastly secured the soul in adversity. [N.T.: Hebrews, 6:18–19]
2. cinquefoil traditional representation of hope. [Flower Symbol-ism and Heraldry: Jobes, 341]
3. Emigrants, The shows Norwegians in Dakota wheatlands striving for better life. [Nor. Lit.: The Emigrants, Magill I, 244–246]
4. flowering almond symbol of spring; blooms in winter. [Flower Symbolism: Jobes, 71]
5. Great Pumpkin, the awaited each Halloween by Linus. [Comics: “Peanuts” in Home, 542]
6. hawthorn symbol of optimism. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 174; Kunz, 328]
7. Iceman Cometh, The “The lie of the pipe dream is what gives life.” [Am. Lit.: The Iceman Cometh ]
8. Of Mice and Men portrays a philosophy that humans are made of hopes and dreams. [Am. Lit.: Of Mice and Men ]
9. rainbow God’s assurance He would not send another great flood. [O.T.: Genesis, 9:12–16]
10. snowdrop symbol of optimism. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 177; Kunz, 326]

Hopelessness (See DESPAIR .)

Hope, a common name, from OE hop ‘small enclosed valley, enclosed plot of land’; examples include: Hope Derbys. Hope 926, 1086 (DB). Hope Devon. La Hope 1281. Hope (Yr Hôb) Flin. Hope 1086 (DB). Hope Shrops. Hope 1242. Hope Bowdler Shrops. Fordritishope 1086 (DB), Hop 1201, Hopebulers 1273. The DB prefix is probably the OE pers. name Forthrǣd; the later manorial affix is from the de Bulers family, here from 1201. Hope Green Ches. Hope 1282. With the later addition of grene ‘village green’. Hope Mansell Herefs. Hope 1086 (DB). Hoppe Maloisel 12th cent. Manorial affix from early possession by the Maloisel family. Hope, Sollers Herefs. Hope 1086 (DB), Hope Solers 1242. Manorial affix from the de Solariis family, here in the 13th cent. Hope under Dinmore Herefs. Hope 1086 (DB), Hope sub' Dinnemor 1291. Dinmore may be a Welsh name din mawr meaning ‘great fort’, or alternatively ‘marsh of a man called *Dynna’, from OE pers. name + mōr.

Hope city (1990 pop. 9,643), seat of Hempstead co., SW Ark. Hope is a commercial center and a distribution point for an agricultural region. Its industries include food processing, printing, and the making of machinery and apparel. The city was the boyhood home of President Bill Clinton.

Hope ♀ From the vocabulary word (Old English hopa) denoting the quality, in particular the Christian quality of expectation in the resurrection and in eternal life. The name was created by the Puritans and has been one of their most successful coinages.

hope. One of the three theological virtues. In its widest sense it may be defined as the desire and search for a future good, difficult but not impossible of attainment. As a Christian virtue its primary end, its motive, and its author is God Himself.

hope sb. Late OE. (tō)hopa, corr. to OLF. tōhopa, MLG., MDu. hope (Du. hoop).
Also hope vb. Late OE. hopian = (M)Du. hopen. of unkn. orig.

HOPE A functional language, one of the first such languages to be widely used.

hope •aslope, cope, dope, elope, grope, hope, interlope, lope, mope, nope, ope, pope, rope, scope, slope, soap, taupe, tope, trope •myope • telescope • periscope •stereoscope • bioscope • stroboscope •kaleidoscope • CinemaScope •gyroscope • microscope • horoscope •stethoscope • antelope • envelope •zoetrope • skipping-rope • tightrope •towrope • heliotrope • lycanthrope •philanthrope • thaumatrope •misanthrope •isotope, radioisotope