“One must know things,but above all,one must know how to be”: an existential–phenomenological study of professional identity in palliative care

Abstract

Background:

Palliative care—while overlapping with but distinct from end-of-life care—involves multidisciplinary teams providing medical, psychosocial, and existential support to patients and families facing serious illness. While prior research has examined professional identity in palliative care, the existential dimensions of identity formation—what it means to be a palliative care professional—remain largely underexplored.

Aim:

To explore the lived experiences of palliative care professionals, focussing on how their professional identity is constructed through the existential notion of “being,” and to identify implications for advancing international education and workforce policy.

Design:

Semi-structured interviews were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Reflexivity, peer debriefing, thick description, and an audit trail were applied to ensure rigour and transparency.

Setting/participants:

Fourteen Italian palliative care professionals from diverse disciplines (nursing, medicine, allied health) working primarily in community-based services.

Results:

One Group Existential Theme emerged: Being, encompassing four subthemes—Meaning of Being, Ways of Being, Being Present for Others, and Reasons for Being Present. Across these, participants framed their identity not only around technical competence but also around emotional presence, relational depth, and ethical commitment to dignity in dying.

Conclusions:

This study advances existing literature by integrating the existential dimensions of “being” into professional identity theory. Findings highlight the need for international education and workforce strategies that embed reflective practice, emotional competence training, and peer-support structures alongside technical instruction, to sustain professionals in death-related work.