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The Meaning of Healing to Adult Patients with Advanced Cancer

Background: This study aimed to explore the meaning of healing from the perspective of adult patients with advanced cancer. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of data from a primary study which used a cognitive interview approach to assess the face and content validity of a spiritual and psy...

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Autores principales: Namisango, Eve, Luyirika, Emmanuel B. K., Matovu, Lawrence, Berger, Ann
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9861899/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36674226
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20021474
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author Namisango, Eve
Luyirika, Emmanuel B. K.
Matovu, Lawrence
Berger, Ann
author_facet Namisango, Eve
Luyirika, Emmanuel B. K.
Matovu, Lawrence
Berger, Ann
author_sort Namisango, Eve
collection PubMed
description Background: This study aimed to explore the meaning of healing from the perspective of adult patients with advanced cancer. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of data from a primary study which used a cognitive interview approach to assess the face and content validity of a spiritual and psychological healing measure (NIH-HEALS). This analysis focused on responses to the question, “What does the term ‘healing’ mean to you?” Data were de-identified, transcribed verbatim, and imported in NVivo for thematic analysis in line with interpretive phenomenological methods. Results: Thirty-five adults with advanced cancer participated in the study. We identified nine major themes: acceptance, surrender, faith, hope, peace, freedom from suffering (e.g., pain, problems, or other bothersome factors), overcoming/transcending disease, positive emotions (e.g., happiness), recovery from illness or disease. One participant discussed healing as synonymous with death, and two associated it with social relations and social support. Conclusion: Themes from patients’ responses suggest subjective and varied definitions of healing which encompass physical, social, spiritual, and psychological domains of well-being, distinct from the physical cure of disease. Clinicians should adopt a holistic, person-centered approach to care, attending to bodily, psychosocial, spiritual, and emotional needs to help patients find meaning in their experiences, nourish resilience, and experience a sense of healing—as they define it.
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spelling pubmed-98618992023-01-22 The Meaning of Healing to Adult Patients with Advanced Cancer Namisango, Eve Luyirika, Emmanuel B. K. Matovu, Lawrence Berger, Ann Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Background: This study aimed to explore the meaning of healing from the perspective of adult patients with advanced cancer. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of data from a primary study which used a cognitive interview approach to assess the face and content validity of a spiritual and psychological healing measure (NIH-HEALS). This analysis focused on responses to the question, “What does the term ‘healing’ mean to you?” Data were de-identified, transcribed verbatim, and imported in NVivo for thematic analysis in line with interpretive phenomenological methods. Results: Thirty-five adults with advanced cancer participated in the study. We identified nine major themes: acceptance, surrender, faith, hope, peace, freedom from suffering (e.g., pain, problems, or other bothersome factors), overcoming/transcending disease, positive emotions (e.g., happiness), recovery from illness or disease. One participant discussed healing as synonymous with death, and two associated it with social relations and social support. Conclusion: Themes from patients’ responses suggest subjective and varied definitions of healing which encompass physical, social, spiritual, and psychological domains of well-being, distinct from the physical cure of disease. Clinicians should adopt a holistic, person-centered approach to care, attending to bodily, psychosocial, spiritual, and emotional needs to help patients find meaning in their experiences, nourish resilience, and experience a sense of healing—as they define it. MDPI 2023-01-13 /pmc/articles/PMC9861899/ /pubmed/36674226 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20021474 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Namisango, Eve
Luyirika, Emmanuel B. K.
Matovu, Lawrence
Berger, Ann
The Meaning of Healing to Adult Patients with Advanced Cancer
title The Meaning of Healing to Adult Patients with Advanced Cancer
title_full The Meaning of Healing to Adult Patients with Advanced Cancer
title_fullStr The Meaning of Healing to Adult Patients with Advanced Cancer
title_full_unstemmed The Meaning of Healing to Adult Patients with Advanced Cancer
title_short The Meaning of Healing to Adult Patients with Advanced Cancer
title_sort meaning of healing to adult patients with advanced cancer
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9861899/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36674226
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20021474
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