An exploration of life attitudes in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Ten participants were recruited to explore the life attitudes of patients undergoing treatment for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The subjects were interviewed using a semistructured interview guide. The interviews were tape recorded and then transcribed verbatim. Descriptions of the patients' life attitudes were analyzed using Colaizzi's phenomenologic method. Four themes emerged from this study and revealed that nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients can (1) build their confidence to survive and learn to embrace life, (2) develop a new love for self and others, (3) reinterpret their attitudes toward suffering and death, and (4) achieve life meaning by transcending their ego. The results of this study revealed that during treatment, patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma learn to treasure their values of life through building up faith to survive, to adapt their attitudes of life in response to the impact of the illness, to reinterpret death through suffering in treatment, and to transcend self-ego to attain altruism. Our findings indicate that there is an urgent need to establish support groups in hospitals to effectively aid patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma during treatment.