Filling gaps in experiences religious understanding of people living with cancer in palliative care: a phenomenological qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: According to a phenomenology of contemporary religion, the analysis of religious experiences finds that they are part of an individual's search for something powerful that overcomes him seeking not only a need, but the meaning of all existence. The present study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the religious experiences of people living with cancer in palliative care (PC) and fill gaps in access to experience, with regard to how it was properly lived. METHODS: A qualitative, phenomenological, cross-sectional study was conducted with 14 people living with cancer undergoing PC at two outpatient clinics of a public hospital. The experiences were accessed through in-depth interviews and the results were analysed according to the principles of classical phenomenology. RESULTS: The patients confidently surrendered to the divine, attributing to it the power of continuity of life or not, which sustained them and launched them into horizons of hope, directing them to possibilities of achieving meaning in life, which it fed back their faith and to continue living, opening them up to an intense perception of the value of life. CONCLUSIONS: The religious positions of confident surrender to the divine, to his will and a belief in his intervention, regardless of the outcome, opened possibilities to patients for the belief in the continuity of life by the power of faith. This position allowed the patients in this study to visualize achievements in the present and in the future, opening a horizon of hope, meaning and value of living. This study showed how this elements are presented and sustained, providing subsidies to health professionals seeking to provide more holistic care.

Personal positioning of oncology patients in palliative care: a mixed-methods study.

BACKGROUND: Advanced oncological disease requires comprehensive health care, although attention is predominantly paid to the physical dimension of care. The consideration of personal positioning encompasses other dimensions of patients' management of their illness, such as existential management and expanding forms of care. The objective of this study was to understand the personal positioning of cancer patients in palliative care. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study using the mixed convergent parallel method. The sample consisted of 71 cancer patients in palliative care, of whom 14 participated in the qualitative and quantitative portions and 57 participated in only the quantitative portion. Phenomenological interviews were performed, and qualitative and quantitative methods were used to collect meaning of life (PIL-Test), quality of life (EORTC QLQ C-30), anxiety and depression (HADS) and sociodemographic data. The interview results were analysed according to the principles of classical phenomenology, and the quantitative data were analysed using the generalized structural equations model. RESULTS: The results showed that the patients turned to living, focusing on their possibilities and distancing themselves from the impact of the illness and the factuality of death, which the patients themselves associated with not succumbing to depression, a condition whose signs were exhibited by 21% of the sample. Sustaining this positioning required a tenacious fight, which feeds on sensitivity to life. Linked to this position was the belief in the continuation of life through religious faith, together with the patients' realization of the meaning of their lives. In this same direction, there was a direct association between awareness of the meaning of life and increased scores on the functional scales (p <  0.01) and decreased scores for symptoms (p <  0.01), anxiety (p = 0.02) and depression (p < 0.01). The last element that emerged and structured this experience was the intense will to live and a sense of the value of life. CONCLUSIONS: Through the use of mixed methods, the present study recognized the existential positioning of cancer patients in palliative care. This understanding can aid in the realization of more comprehensive and meaningful treatment plans and can contribute to the goal of achieving humanization in this area of treatment.