Therapists’ experiences of working with terminal cancer patients: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

Osgood, J. and Farr, Joanna (2025) Therapists’ experiences of working with terminal cancer patients: an interpretative phenomenological analysis. The Humanistic Psychologist , ISSN 0887-3267.

Abstract

This study presents an in-depth qualitative investigation into therapists’ experiences of working face-to-face with a person who has received a terminal cancer diagnosis. Semistructured interviews were conducted with six qualified, experienced therapists (range: 7–26 years of experience), and the resulting verbatim transcripts were subjected to interpretative phenomenological analysis. Three interrelated experiential themes were identified: “working in a liminal space,” “being with,” and “walking a line.” Participants described their sense of a demarcation of two worlds characterizing their lived experiences and how transitioning between the two worlds related to their overall well-being. A way of being with patients in the therapeutic relationship, emphasizing person-to-person contact, and wordless presence were highlighted. The therapists described how this work had affected their emotional and physical self and how they balanced different aspects of their lives inside and outside the cancer world. The results section gives a detailed account of these processes at work. Findings are then discussed in relation to relevant constructs in the extant literature.

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