Concept Analysis of Spiritual Pain among Japanese Terminal Cancer Patients

Abstract

Objective: To clarify the Japanese concept of “the spiritual pain of terminal cancer patients.”

Method: A total 52 references published in Japan, including 40 theses and 12 books, were analyzed using Rodgers & Knafl’s (2000) method of concept analysis.

Results: Seven attributes (namely “seeking meaning,” “anxiety about death,” “loss of dignity,” “consciousness of guilt,” “grief for real self,” “loss of relationship,” and “longing for transcendental existence”), two prerequisites and four consequences were extracted.

Conclusion: The Japanese concept of “the spiritual pain of terminal cancer patients” was defined as “terminal cancer patients’ pain of an inevitable ongoing quest regarding the meaning of life, existence and suffering, anxiety about death, loss of dignity, consciousness of guilt, grief for real self, loss of relationship, longing for transcendental existence, etc., due to helplessness arising from fear of a life threatening condition and declining bodily functions caused by progression of the disease.” This concept was similar to that of the West and seems to be a universal concept among humans. Of these, excretion behavior (which is strongly associated with the attribute of “loss of dignity”) and the method of expression (which demonstrates the consequence of “complex modality”) were thought to be the characteristics exclusively associated with the Japanese.