[The meaning and structure of cancer survivors' perception of their health]

The purpose of this study is to examine the meaning and structure of cancer survivors' perception of their health. An ethnographic approach is used in an inductive analysis of survivors' behavior. Thirty cancer survivors were examined through interviews and participant observation (participant observation was conducted in their own homes, offices, outpatient departments, or at the meetings of survivors' self-help groups). The cancer survivors' perceptions of their health, described in their own words, are categorized in 17 "folk domains of concepts". Among them, category A, "kekkyoku-wa-jibun-da (After all, there is nobody but me)" was selected as the tentative theme: the remaining domains were reorganized by their relationship with this theme domain. Through this study, it was found that the theme domain plays an important role when a cancer survivor struggles for survival and arrives at a state in which extraordinary circumstances brought about by cancer do not bother him any longer. This findings indicates that sound recovery from cancer can be achieved through harmony between a cancer survivor's self and his daily life. This also suggests that help should be provided to cancer survivors to contribute to stable surroundings that enable them to establish a sound self concept.