Family Bonds (‘Kizuna’) between a Terminally Ill Cancer Patient Living at Home and the Family

Abstract

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the family bonds of a terminally ill cancer patient living at home and his family. Six caregivers lived with the patient in the terminal stage of cancer. The study data was collected by semi-structured interviews and analyzed qualitatively. Six subcategories of family bonds were allocated as follows relating to living with the truth that the illness is incurable: ‘acceptance of the condition of the patient fading fast’, ‘acceptance of the patient’s feelings of anguish about the cancer’, ‘feeling the end of the family relationship’, ‘expressing love for the patient in the terminal stage of cancer’, ‘to feel the proof of having lived as a family’, and ‘to be with the patient until the end’. Three subcategories were found for the family strategy to maintain the culture particular to the family: ‘to live at the pace characteristic of that family’, ‘to carry out the patient’s wishes for the future’, and ‘to foresee family life after the patient has died’. The terminally ill cancer patient and his family now used to living together in the face of impending death intended to reflect back on their shared history as a family, reaffirm their existence as a family unit, and carry forward their particular family characteristics into the future.