Abstract
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.
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.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 2001897 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-9 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Nov 2021 |
| MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Keywords
- Cancer survivor
- existential experience
- whole suffering
- phenomenological hermeneutics
- isolation
- lived experience
- lifeworld