Life after cancer treatment - existential experiences of longing

Cervical cancer survivors: The experiences of the journey

OBJECTIVE

Cervical cancer affects survivors' overall coping. Yet, specifically emotional and behavioral expression patterns among cervical cancer survivors have barely been examined. In addition, no study has focused on survivors' experiences of sequences related to coping. Understanding these perceptions can help provide a tailored response and improve psycho-social interventions. The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of the emotional and behavioral motives involved in coping with cervical cancer recovery.

METHODS

Qualitative interviews were conducted with 15 survivors of cervical cancer (stages I and II), using a semi-structured in-depth questionnaire. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by three researchers using thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Six main themes emerged: (i) Reasons and benefits for keeping the disease a secret or sharing it with others; (ii) "When you get used to despair, there's also room for hope": Despair alongside hope; (iii) Self-guilt following the disease, but also knowing how to forgive yourself; (iv) Deep loneliness alongside a significant need for support; (v) Finding the way from passivity to activity; and (vi) When meaning in life is missing, and the importance of meaning when it is present. There was a balance between negative emotions and behaviors (despair, confidentiality, guilt, loneliness, passivity, lack of meaning) and positive emotions and behaviors (hope, openness, forgiveness, significant support, activity, meaning).

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESULTS

The study revealed that in some cases cervical cancer coping during the recovery period moves across sequences. The women's narratives portray past difficulties as the reason for present psychological health, and their experience of a healthy present is intensified by their past difficulties. Implications for practice are discussed.

Individuals living with a liver transplant - a follow-up study exploring mental, emotional and existential issues 10 years after transplantation

BACKGROUND

Going through a liver transplantation is by many recipients considered mentally and emotionally burdensome.

AIM

The aim of this study was to explore individuals' mental, emotional and existential experiences living with a liver transplant during a period of approximately ten years.

METHODOLOGICAL DESIGN

The methodology in this study is based on Gadamer's hermeneutics. Galvin and Todres' conceptual framework on well-being was applied in the interpretation process.

RESEARCH METHODS

Both researchers conducted interviews, which took the form of conversations. We made use of Brinkmann and Kvales' three types of interpretation.

ETHICAL ISSUES AND APPROVAL

The study was approved by the Ombudsman for Privacy of the Norwegian Social Data Services and is based on informed consent and confidentiality.

RESULTS

Three themes emerged through interpretation: 1. From great suffering to gratitude and a humble attitude towards life. 2. From living in uncertainty to leading a normal life. 3. From hopelessness and anxiety to an indifferent attitude towards life.

CONCLUSION

This study showed that the process of receiving a new liver and living with it, had changed most of the participants' attitudes towards life in a humble way. Some persons struggled with life and experienced depression anxiety, as well as lack of energy.

Existential uncertainty in the patient cancer experience: Delimiting the concept

OBJECTIVE

To delimit the concept of existential uncertainty in the patient cancer experience from other, related aspects of uncertainty in the context of an existing framework of health-related uncertainty.

METHODS

In-depth interviews were carried out with six people living with cancer and analyzed using theory-driven, concept-focused thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Our analysis suggests that existential uncertainty is concerned with meaning rather than information; with the person rather than the disease; and with the fundamental nature of our human being-in-the-world rather than the more practical aspects of our relationships with others. Patient expressions of existential uncertainty may involve a nonscientific discourse of metaphor, analogy, and imagination.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS

It is important for professionals working in supportive oncology to have a conceptual understanding of uncertainty in order to choose how best to respond to patients' needs, as different interventions may be more or less appropriate to different aspects of patient uncertainty.

Cancer survivorship: existential suffering

Purpose

This study aimed to explore and describe existential experiences after cancer treatment.

Method

An exploratory phenomenological hermeneutical design was used following in-depth interviews with 21 people.

Results

The study revealed experiences of multifaceted suffering in the form of limitations in everyday life, inner struggles, and bearing the burden alone.

Conclusions

Existential suffering after cancer treatment was revealed as like being in a process of transition, in an intermediate state, as moving between suffering and enduring, and alternating between alienworld and homeworld. A new and broader professional perspective is needed to establish rehabilitation services based on multifaceted experiences of suffering. This means a shift in focus from biomedical symptoms towards understanding of existential meaning for the person.