A pilot study of transformation, attributed meanings to the illness, and spiritual well-being for terminally ill cancer patients
Abstract
Objective The present study investigated what types of transformation terminally ill cancer patients experienced from diagnosis until the terminal stage, what meanings terminally ill cancer patients attributed to their illness, and whether or not those who attributed positive meaning to their illness achieved high levels of spiritual well-being as a preliminary study. Method Ten terminally ill cancer patients in the hospice wards of two general hospitals participated. A clinical psychologist conducted a semistructured interview with the patients individually for about 60 min. Patients completed the FACIT-Sp and HADS before the interview and talked about the meanings of cancer experience. The contents of the interviews were analyzed qualitatively. Patients were separated into high and low levels of spiritual-well being by the median of FACIT-Sp scores. Results Three types of transformation were extracted: "group with peaceful mind," "group with both positive attitude and uneasy feeling," and "groups with uneasy feeling." As attributed meanings to the illness, five categories were extracted: "positive meaning," "natural acceptance," "negative acceptance," "search for meaning," and "regret and sorrow." Patients in the high level spiritual well-being group attributed the meaning of illness to "positive meaning" and "natural acceptance," and those in the low level spiritual well-being group attributed it to "regret and sorrow" and "search for meaning." Significance of results Some…
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- Authors
- Ando, M., Morita, T., Lee, V., & Okamoto, T.
- Affiliations
- St. Mary's College (JP)
- Seirei Mikatabara General Hospital (JP)
- McGill University Health Centre (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Ando, Michiyo
- Venue
- Palliative and Supportive Care
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2008-11-13
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 335-340
- ISSN
- 1478-9515 (ISSN-L)
- 1478-9523
- OpenAlex
- W2153385761
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 1.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Palliative & Supportive Care (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Palliative and Oncologic Care
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
- Keywords
- terminal cancer, spiritual well-being, meaning of illness, hospice patients, acceptance of illness, FACIT-Sp, Japanese cancer patients
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Adult, Aged, Anecdotes as Topic, Attitude to Death, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Japan, Male, Middle Aged, Neoplasms, Pilot Projects, Quality of Life, Surveys and Questionnaires, Religion and Medicine, Social Support, Terminally Ill, Spirituality
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