Life Themes: A Method to Understand Terminal Illness

Abstract

As health care costs in general soar, the high cost of terminal care is questioned. Yet little is known about what kinds of medical care terminally ill persons, themselves, want. To explore the patient's view, I conducted a qualitative study of eight patients with incurable cancer to answer the question, “How do terminally ill persons understand their illnesses and treatments?” Analysis of interview transcripts indicated that study participants created illness-understandings within the context of their daily life experiences via life themes. Since life themes integrate and give meaning to illness events in both emic and etic ways and help to explain patients' coping strategies, it is recommended that health care providers elicit patients' life themes and use them in their approaches to diagnosis and treatment. The possible benefits of the life theme method are more balanced doctor/patient communication, improved patient satisfaction and quality of life, and the containment of health care costs.

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