End of living: maintaining a lifeworld during terminal illness.
The narrative responses of 32 people with AIDS or cancer with survival prognoses of 6 months to a year to monthly interview questions about their daily lives were analysed with a team-based qualitative methodology. Two groups emerged: (a) a Maintained Lifeworld Group characterised by one or more of the following: continued engagement with family, friends, and community; the ability to relinquish untenable goals and substitute new, realistic ones; engagement in spirituality and a spiritual practice; and, (b) a Lifeworld Interrupted Group characterised by one or more of the following: relocation just before or during the study, cognitive impairment, commitment to untenable goals, ongoing substance abuse. Understanding how people with a terminal illness can maintain a lifeworld and experience well-being while also managing the physical challenges of their illness could help inform the support offered by professional and family caregivers to improve care recipients' quality of life.
Wrubel
Judith
J
Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco 94115, USA.
Acree
Michael
M
Goodman
Steffanie
S
Folkman
Susan
S
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001293:Attitude to Death; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology; D009519:New York City; D012495:San Francisco; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D019452:Terminally Ill / Q000523:psychology*