Objective: To measure the level of hope in cancer patients at the beginning and at the end of chemotherapy treatment and verify the associated factors in the two moments. Methods: Cross-sectional study with cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Data were collected at the beginning of chemotherapy and after three/four months of the treatment, with the application of the Herth Hope Index and a characterization questionnaire. The Meann-Whitney test was used to assess statistical associations at both moments. Results: The mean score of hope was 35.8 (± 6.11) points in the first moment, and 36.1 (± 7.12) in the second. Schooling greater than eight years, absence of metastasis, curative or adjuvant treatment and mild pain contributed significantly in increasing the scores. Conclusion: The level of hope increased at the end of the treatment, but not significantly. Factors influencing this increase were higher schooling, absence of metastases, curative or adjuvant treatment and absence of moderate to strong pain. ResumoObjetivo: Mensurar o nível de esperança de vida em pacientes oncológicos no início e no final do tratamento quimioterápico e verificar os fatores associados nos dois momentos. Métodos: Estudo transversal com pacientes oncológicos em tratamento quimioterápico. Os dados foram coletados no início e após três/quatro meses de quimioterapia, com a aplicação da Escala de Esperança de Herth e um questionário de caracterização. Foi utilizado o teste de Meann-Whitney para verificar associações estatísticas nos dois momentos. Resultados: O escore médio de esperança foi de 35,8 (±6,11) pontos no primeiro momento e, 36,1 (±7,12) no segundo. Escolaridade maior que oito anos, ausência de metástase, tratamento curativo ou adjuvante e dor leve contribuíram significativamente no aumento dos escores. Conclusão: O nível de esperança aumentou no final do tratamento, mas não significativamente. Os fatores que influenciaram este aumento foram maior escolaridade, ausência de metástases, tratamento curativo ou adjuvante e ausência de dor moderada a forte.

Objective: To analyze the social representations of chemotherapy and the experiences built by people with cancer. Method: Descriptive study with a qualitative approach. Data collection occurred between August and December 2016, through interviews with 29 cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy at an institution in the northern part of Paraná State, and the Thematic-Categorical Content Analysis. Results: Four categories have emerged denoting attitudes, feelings and experiences associated with chemotherapy and the need for reconstruction of daily life, permeated by the distancing of social life and work. At the same time, we note the close ties with friends and family, as well as adaptive strategies, new meanings of experiences lived and life priority setting. Final considerations: Cancer represents an interruption of plans and dreams, modifying everyday tasks and generating new experiences. This process facilitates giving a new meaning to the past and the reconstruction of subjectivity.

Objective: to analyze the contents and dimensions of social representations about chemotherapy by cancer patients in chemotherapy treatment. Method: qualitative study, based on the Theory of Social Representations. One hundred patients were interviewed with cancer undergoing chemotherapy treatment attended at a High Complexity Oncology Unit located in the north of the state of Paraná between August and December of 2016. To collect data, a socio-occupational and clinical characterization questionnaire was used, a form of free evocations and in-depth interviews. The analysis was performed with the softwares Microsoft Excel and Evocations. Results: the social representation of chemotherapy has in its central core the words healing, good and difficult, which are structured in order to justify the completion of chemotherapy - good treatment that leads to healing, although difficult. In addition, an attempt is made to define chemotherapy from its effectiveness, seeking, in healing, its conceptualization. The periphery presents elements related to the attitude, efficacy and side effects of chemotherapy, which reveal the concrete experience of daily life during treatment. Conclusion: the health team, especially the nursing team, should collaborate with the representational construction of patients with cancer in chemotherapy, offering information and rescuing knowledge gaps that allow their participation in the therapeutic process.

Objective: To describe the contents and structure of the social representation of cancer. Method: A qualitative study based on the Theory of Social Representations, carried out in a High Complexity Care Unit in Oncology. Data collection included a socio-occupational and clinical characterization questionnaire and free evocations form from 100 cancer patients in chemotherapy treatment and in-depth interviews with 29 of them. The analysis was performed using EVOC software. Results: One hundred (100) patients participated in the study. The social representation of cancer has the words normal, difficult disease, death and fear in its central nucleus. The apparent ambivalence between the continuity of life and its finitude as structuring meanings of this representation enables establishing an inferential hypothesis that relates normal disease to the possibility of treatment, control and cure of cancer, while the fear of death remains in the representational field linked to the disease, which has a difficult treatment to cope with. Conclusion: The social representations of cancer based on the presented interrelationships provide reflections which may contribute to increasing the individual and social care of patients with malignant neoplasm and their family in health services.

This study aimed at unveiling the feeling of hope in people who experience cancer in their existence. Qualitative study based on Heidegger's phenomenology, performed with eight cancer patients assisted in a philanthropic organization, between December 2013 and February 2014, in a northwestern city in Paraná, Brazil, using the following guiding question: "How do you perceive the feeling of hope at this time in your life?" The analysis resulted in the ontological themes: searching for hope in dealing with cancer, and experiencing feelings of hope and despair in being with others. Patients revealed mixed feelings, going from the lack of hope at the time of diagnosis to a rekindling of hope, as well as those who never lost the will to live. We conclude that living with cancer causes extreme feelings; and hope emerges as a feeling capable of influencing and causes an expressive impact in coping with that. Descriptors: Hope; Neoplasms; Patient Care; Nursing.Objetivou-se desvelar o sentimento de esperança para as pessoas que vivenciam o câncer em sua existência. Pesquisa qualitativa, fenomenológica heideggeriana, realizada com oito pacientes atendidos em instituição filantrópica, entre dezembro de 2013 a fevereiro de 2014, em uma cidade localizada no noroeste do Paraná, Brasil, inquiridos por meio da questão norteadora: "Como você percebe o sentimento de esperança neste momento de sua vida?" A análise emergiu nas temáticas ontológicas: buscando esperança no conviver com o câncer e vivenciando sentimentos de esperança e (des) esperança em seu estar-com o outro. Os pacientes revelaram sentimentos que transitam entre a falta de esperança no momento do diagnóstico e o reascender deste sentimento, além da expressão daqueles que não perderam a esperança em viver. Concluiu-se que conviver com o câncer fez os pacientes lidar com o extremo de seus sentimentos e a esperança foi capaz de influenciá-los e repercutir expressivamente em seu enfrentamento. Descritores: Esperança; Neoplasias; Assistência ao Paciente; Enfermagem.El objetivo fue desvelar el sentimiento de esperanza para las personas que vivencian el cáncer en su existencia. Estudio cualitativo, fenomenológico heideggeriana, con ocho pacientes atendidos en una institución filantrópica, entre diciembre de 2013 y febrero de 2014, en una ciudad del noroeste del Paraná, Brasil, inquiridos por la cuestión: "¿Cómo usted percibe el sentimiento de esperanza en este momento de su vida?". El análisis emergió en las temáticas ontológicas: buscando esperanza en el convivir con el cáncer y viviendo sentimientos de esperanza y (des)esperanza en su estar-con el otro. Los pacientes revelaron sentimientos que transitan entre falta de esperanza en el momento del diagnóstico y su reavivar, además de expresión de aquellos que no perdieron la esperanza en vivir. Convivir con el cáncer hizo los pacientes lidiaren con el extremo de sus sentimientos y la esperanza fue capaz de influirlos y repercutir expresivamente en su enfrentamiento.