An exploration of the effect of a life-limiting diagnosis on an individual’s relationship with their body: a qualitative study

Abstract

To date there has been limited research into the lived experiences of individuals with a life-limiting diagnosis, particularly with regard to the ways in which they make sense of, and ascribe meaning to, their experiences.

The first part of this thesis contains a review that evaluates the present literature on the lived experiences of individuals with a life limiting diagnosis. The review explores the types of narrative-based ‘meaning making’ processes that are generated by individuals experiencing life-limiting disease. The discussion is extended to specifically consider the ways in which disease related changes to the body impact upon narrative processes. The
relationship between bodily experience and narrative identity is explored. It is identified that there is minimal empirical research investigating these experiences.

The second part of this thesis contains a qualitative research study, which aims to provide a rich account of 11 participants’ relationship with their body in the light of their lifelimiting diagnosis. Participants were interviewed about their relationship with their body
and Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis was applied to the interview transcripts. The analysis yielded eight over-arching themes and 24 higher-order themes.

Themes that emerged from the data included: the experience of the changed body, fear of the body’s future, threats to the individual’s sense of ownership of the body within the
context of the medical encounter, and adaptivity to disease. Discussion of these constructs focussed on the experience of embodiment that can be seen to underlie participants lived experience of disease.

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