Stories of liminality: living with life-threatening illness.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the study is to examine liminal experiences of living with the uncertainty of life-threatening illness. Increasing numbers of people with life-threatening illness live in-between the promise of treatment and the threat of recurrence or progression of disease, and yet this experience is not well understood.


METHODS
A narrative inquiry methodology within a constructionist frame was used.


METHODS
Semistructured in-depth interviews were conducted with 32 participants from three populations of interest: (a) 10 people living with cancer, (b) 13 people with chronic renal disease, and (c) 9 people living with HIV/AIDS.


RESULTS
An overarching theme of "pervasive liminality" and four narratives are identified: storying into fear(lessness), being alive but not living; knowing and not knowing, and the (in)visibility of disease.


CONCLUSIONS
Over time, living with a life-threatening illness produces complex and paradoxical experiences that do not easily fit within familiar categories of experience. Findings highlight pervasive liminal experiences as in-between narratives that are neither problematic nor need to be resolved, and endure over time.
University of Victoria.
Anne
A
Bruce
Laurene
L
Sheilds
Anita
A
Molzahn
Rosanne
R
Beuthin
Kara
K
Schick-Makaroff
Sheryl
S
Shermak
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000523:psychology*; D006694:Holistic Health; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D063545:Personal Narratives as Topic; D029181:Spirituality
HIV/AIDS; adults; cancer; chronic conditions; renal; uncertainty