The meaning of hope to palliative care cancer patients

This paper describes a phenomenological study which sought to explore the meaning of hope to patients with cancer who are receiving palliative care. A purposive sample of four patients was interviewed using a semi-structured format. Content analysis of the themes arising from the transcripts identified three specific areas of meaning as influential in maintaining hope; the maintenance of the disease as it existed at the time of interview for the individual, underpinned by a hope for cure; the existence and presence of significant family members, and an anticipated future with them; the maintenance of a positive interest in the individual by health care professionals. All participants identified that loss of control over any of the hope maintaining factors, would cause loss of hope. Within each description of hope were individual meanings. However, the generic themes described the essence of the phenomenon of hope. The study thus identified the existence of hope, its nature and meaning, for those who participated and is a starting point for further research in this area.