T. Maccormack et al., 'Someone who cares': A qualitative investigation of cancer patients' experiences of psychotherapy, PSYCHO-ONC, 10(1), 2001, pp. 52-65
Although psychotherapy for cancer patients is known to be effective, there
is little in the research to indicate what elements of their therapy patien
ts find most helpful. To explore this question, we interviewed cancer patie
nts diagnosed with metastatic disease who had been offered two different fo
rms of individual psychotherapy as part of a larger funded study. These int
erviews were then transcribed and analysed using grounded theory. Our aim w
as to explore patients' psychotherapy experience from their perspective and
to determine what common elements in the two approaches they felt were of
greatest benefit. Results indicated that patients offered cognitive behavio
ural therapy had similar experiences to those who received a type of relaxa
tion therapy that included time for non-specific, patient-centred 'chat'. C
entral to participants' experiences was the opportunity both therapies gave
them to enter a relationship in which they could safely share their though
ts and feelings with someone who seemed genuinely interested in understandi
ng their cancer experience and 'truly cared'. These findings suggest that t
he unique perspectives of cancer patients can add considerably to our under
standing of individual psychotherapy in cancer care settings and how this m
ight be improved. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.