Transitional self-disappear: the journey of cancer survivors to self re-coherence in a Middle East society

PURPOSE: People who experience cancer often face serious and unpleasant challenges in understanding their past, present, and future. They think they have lost their lifetime, agency, and interpersonal relationships, and no longer know their bodies. These experiences can change survivors’ perceptions of themselves. Therefore, the present study aimed to develop a deep theoretical understanding of the change of self in cancer survivors. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. Interviews were conducted with 17 cancer survivors, 2 oncologists, and 2 family members of survivors. In this study, grounded theory methodology was used to explore the process of understanding and experiencing “self” in cancer survivors. RESULTS: The present study generated a model about the change of self, with the main concept called “transitional self-disappear,” which is understandable based on the concepts of self-disruption (temporal disruption, highlighted body, interference in the agency, individual-self disruption, over-differentiation, relational self-disruption, and painful emotional experiences), self-reconstruction strategy, and quality of self-coherence, and occurs in the context of the cancer-based socio-cultural experiences and individual-environmental preparedness. CONCLUSION: This model illuminated the complex paths and roads of the survivors’ journey from self-disappear to self reconstruction/re-coherence. A healthier experience of this journey can be facilitated by the transcendence of the “self” conceptualized in the past, and the promotion of specific (cancer-based socio-cultural experiences) and general (individual-environmental preparedness) conditions.