نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
عنوان مقاله English
نویسندگان English
Background: Colon cancer, as a complex disease, severely affects the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual dimensions of patients. It is the third most common cancer globally. Understanding the spiritual experiences of these patients can play a vital role in improving multi-dimensional and human-centered care.
Aim: The present study aimed to explore the spiritual lived experience of men diagnosed with colon cancer.
Method: The present study was a qualitative research designed with an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach. Research participants consisted of all men diagnosed with colon cancer who referred to Omid Hospital in Mashhad during the March, April, and May 2025 (approximately 60 individuals). Purposive sampling was conducted using the snowball technique until Data saturation was achieved; saturation was reached after interviews with 9 participants. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews. Each interview lasted between 45 and 90 minutes and focused on the lived spiritual experience since the diagnosis of the disease. Data analysis was performed using the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) method. To enhance the credibility of the findings, strategies including researcher’s reflexive journaling, independent coding by two analysts with calculation of inter-coder agreement, and member checking with participants were employed.
Results: Analysis of the participants' lived experiences led to the identification of the "essence of spiritual experience" within four core themes: Individual and Divine Spirituality (experiencing God's presence as an infinite source of power), Individual and Self-Centered Spirituality (encountering a new meaning of life in the shadow of illness), Social Spirituality and Family Support (experiencing spirituality within the context of human relationships), and Existential and Naturalistic Spirituality (a sense of oneness with the universe).
Conclusions: The findings demonstrated that spiritual experience in men with colon cancer is not a static phenomenon but a dynamic process of "re-meaning life" in the face of crisis. By redefining their relationship with the sources of power, these patients transform physical suffering into an opportunity for existential growth. Health policymakers can utilize these helping to reconstruct the patient's semantic world rather than focusing solely on physical treatment.
کلیدواژهها English
