The meaning of the lived experience of hope in patients with cancer in palliative home care

The aim of this study was to illuminate the meaning of the lived experience of hope in patients with cancer in palliative home care. Narrative intervi ews with 11 patients were interpreted using a phenomenological-hermeneutic method, inspired by Ricoeur. The findings revealed a tension between hoping for something, that is a hope of getting cured, and living in hope, that i s reconciliation and comfort with life and death. This tension is highlight ed, according to the views of the French philosopher Gabriel Marcel, as a s tate of 'recollection'. The interviewees told of the hope of living as norm ally as possible and of the experience of confirmative relationships as dim ensions of their lived experience of hope. These findings show that hope is a dynamic experience, important to both a meaningful life and a dignified death, for those patients suffering from incurable cancer.