Understanding Cancer Patients' Lived Experience of Pain through Metaphors: A Qualitative Study

The purpose of this study was to investigate the lived experience of pain metaphors in cancer patients.

Method and Materials:

The method of this study was qualitative with hermeneutic phenomenological approach. The study population included all cancer patients in Tehran in 2021-2022 who experienced pain from cancer and its treatment. According to the theoretical saturation rule, 20 cancer patients in stages 2 and 3 of the cancer were selected by purposive method and interviewed in-depth and semi-structured manner. The interview lasted from 40 to 90 minutes. The time and place of the interviews were determined by the participants. Questions with a general question as to what you analogized your experience with cancer and its treatments. After each interview and recording it, the content of the interview was written in fully. The extracted data were analyzed using the method of hermeneutic analysis of Diekelmann et al. (1989).

According to interpretive hermeneutic analysis; lived experiences of pain in cancer patients are 4 main themes including; the metaphor of lived war, the metaphor of lived scheduled pain cage, the metaphor of living in dark future with pain and the metaphor of lived with overload pain.  

To conclude, metaphors have important role in pain expressions. Researchers suggest cognitive therapies to change metaphors of pain.