Much work has been done to control symptoms associated with end-stage disease, but few studies addressed meaning of life in advanced cancer patients. A strong relationship exists between meaning of life and psychological well-being, even in situations of suffering. Understanding how persons with advanced disease experience meaning of life is essential in meeting the needs of this group. Further, physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia are pressing policy issues today. An examination of meaning of life from patients' perspectives may help professionals give a knowledgeable, compassionate, and appropriate response to these issues.
The purpose of this study, therefore, was to explore meaning of life among advanced cancer patients. The specific aims were to: (a) examine patients' experience of meaning of life as they face death, (b) explore the changes in perception of meaning of life since their diagnoses of advanced cancer, (c) consider the perceptions of patients who find their life meaningless, (d) provide a foundation for future interventions aimed toward promoting the experience of life as meaningful until death occurs, and (e) help to reduce the theory/practice gap by writing this report in a language, which not only speaks to the mind, but touches the heart, so that the lived experience of the patient becomes a shared experience with those providing care.
Drawing from the philosophies of Heidegger and Gadamer, a qualitative design using a hermeneutic existential phenomenological approach to research was used with a sample of 12 participants, purposively selected from an oncologist's practice and an inpatient clinic in German-speaking Switzerland. Interviews were conducted in the patients' homes and/or in the respective clinics.
The results suggested three divisions: (a) meaning in life--a conditional experience of ascribed meaning, (b) meaning of life--an unconditional experience of ultimate meaning, and (c) a division in which meaning had little or no place within the patient's frame of reference. All three divisions suggested implications for health care professionals.