Existential uncertainty in the patient cancer experience: Delimiting the concept

Abstract

Objective To delimit the concept of existential uncertainty in the patient cancer experience from other, related aspects of uncertainty in the context of an existing framework of health-related uncertainty. Methods In-depth interviews were carried out with six people living with cancer and analyzed using theory-driven, concept-focused thematic analysis. Results Our analysis suggests that existential uncertainty is concerned with meaning rather than information; with the person rather than the disease; and with the fundamental nature of our human being-in-the-world rather than the more practical aspects of our relationships with others. Patient expressions of existential uncertainty may involve a nonscientific discourse of metaphor, analogy, and imagination. Significance of results It is important for professionals working in supportive oncology to have a conceptual understanding of uncertainty in order to choose how best to respond to patients' needs, as different interventions may be more or less appropriate to different aspects of patient uncertainty.