Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 3, 2025
Minimally Invasive Murine Laryngoscopy for Close-Up Imaging of Laryngeal Motion During Breathing and Swallowing
Published on: December 1, 2023
Silenced: Patients' experiences of voicelessness in head and neck cancer
Chandrika Gibson1, Moira O'Connor2, Rohen White3
1Curtin School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
Objectives:
The objective of this qualitative study was to explore patients' experiences of communicating with health professionals following a diagnosis of head and neck cancer (HNC).
Methods:
A qualitative research approach based on social constructionist theory was used. A total of 21 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with people diagnosed with HNC. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes.
Results:
The experience of losing the capacity for speech was experienced by survivors of HNC as distressing and traumatic. Voicelessness was not just a loss of physical speech, but a holistic experience of silencing. A number of tensions emerged including patients' experiences of losing their voice and then finding different ways to verbally express themselves; in interactions with health professionals there was a tension between abrupt, hurried communication and a slower, more mindful communication style. Sub-themes around communication style emerged where disparities between levels of health literacy were unaddressed, and patients' experienced a lack of empathy. Another tension experienced was between an old style medical model and the ideal of person-centred care and the biopsychosocial model of health.
Conclusion:
Whether HNC patients lose their voice temporarily, have periods of voicelessness, or are able to speak, but feel unheard, the treatment experience is too often one of disempowerment and silencing of their perspectives.
Practice Implications:
Health professionals are challenged to find creative communication methods, to practice mindful listening, source speech pathology and adaptive technologies, and to facilitate communication that supports patients in expressing their values, preferences and needs.
Related Concept Videos
01:21Larynx
Anatomy of the Larynx
The larynx consists of various components, including cartilage, muscles, and vocal cords. Its structure includes three large unpaired cartilages—the thyroid, cricoid, and epiglottis—and three smaller paired cartilages—the arytenoids,...
01:15Techniques of therapeutic communication I: Active Listening, Sharing Observations, Validation, and Using Touch
Therapeutic communication is not the same as social interaction. Social interaction has no goal or purpose and consists of casual information sharing, whereas therapeutic communication has a plan or purpose for the conversation. Therapeutic...
01:27Nursing Ethical Principles II
Consider the following scenario, which illustrates how these principles are applied in the care of Mr. John, a fifty-year-old teacher diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer.
Initially, Mr. John's...
02:56Treatment Resistant Cancers
01:19Veins of Head and Neck
On the other hand, the vertebral veins, unlike their arterial counterparts, are not primarily responsible for brain drainage. Instead, they drain the cervical vertebrae, spinal cord, and some small...
02:49Cancer Therapies
However, cancer treatments can pose several challenges, as therapies used to kill cancer cells are generally also toxic to normal cells. Moreover, cancer cells mutate rapidly and can develop resistance to chemical agents or radiation therapy. Besides, all types of cancer cells may not respond to the same therapy. Some cancer cells respond to one...