Liminality as a dimension of the experience of living with terminal cancer

Abstract

The analysis forms part of a wider project that involved conducting a metasynthesis of 23 phenomenological studies of the experience of living with the awareness of having terminal cancer published between 2011 and 2016.ResultThe metasynthesis identified four master themes that represent distinct experiential dimensions of living with terminal cancer. This paper focuses on one of these themes, liminality, to provide novel insights into the structure of death awareness whilst living with terminal cancer.Significance of resultsThe results suggest that liminality describes an experiential space from within which terminal cancer patients encounter a new relationship with their existence. Liminality offers opportunities for both connection (e.g., with the natural world) as well as disconnection (e.g., from loved ones and others who still have a future) and therefore contains the potential for suffering and distress as well as for joy and a sense of fulfillment. This understanding of liminality can help healthcare professionals provide psychological support for this client group.

Using Liminality and Subjunctivity to Better Understand How Patients With Cancer Experience Uncertainty Throughout Their Illness Trajectory

“…And when experiencing either ambiguous symptoms or known side-effects of therapy, patients might also feel insecure or at risk of relapse. These findings are consistent with other research on cancer-related uncertainty in patients and even with research in patients with other diseases, such as HIV (Brashers, Neidig, Reynolds, & Haas, 1998; Liao, Chen, Chen, & Chen, 2008; Nelson, 1996; Pietilä, Jurva, Ojala, & Tammela, 2018; Willig & Wirth, 2019). Feelings of liminality pre-diagnosis have not received much attention in the literature (Granek & Fergus, 2012).…”

A meta-synthesis of studies of patients’ experience of living with terminal cancer.

“…This mainly is due to space restrictions but also reflects the meta-synthesis' primary function, which is to map out the experiential spaces available to people living with terminal cancer and to identify their defining features. Separate papers on each of the four master themes will be published, which will give voice to participants and explore the tensions and contextual dimensions of the themes in more detail (e.g., Willig & Wirth, 2017).…”

The Hematology Cancer Patient Experience of “Facing Death” in the Last Year of Life

“…Several explorations of liminality [42][43][44][45][46] identify a liminal space as a time of waiting for what will come next, be that test results, future treatment, or death itself; the participants in my study found such things psychologically challenging as well. Adorno 45 states that liminality is increased by the advent of biomedical technologies, which cause a greater blurring between living and dying.…”