The lived experience of Lebanese family caregivers of cancer patients

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore, through in-depth semistructured interviews, the lived experience of Lebanese family caregivers of cancer patients and acquire a better knowledge of the meaning and interpretation of their experience. The study design was based on the Utrecht School of Phenomenology. This study followed purposeful sampling, in which 9 participants with a mean age of 51 years were selected. Data were analyzed using the hermeneutic phenomenological approach based on the Utrecht School of Phenomenology. Eight core themes describing the participants' lived experience emerged from the interviews: living with fears and uncertainty, loss of happiness, feeling of added responsibility, living in a state of emergency, sharing the pain, living the dilemma of truth telling, disturbed by being pitied, and reliance on God. The results of this study challenge nurses to be conscious of the nature and difficulties that family caregivers are encountering.