Understanding women with advanced gynecological cancer: a heideggerian approach

Abstract

This qualitative phenomenological research was carried out in order to understand how women experience living with advance gynecological cancer. We chose to make a qualitative survey in a phenomenological approach, based on the following directive question: "I'd like you to tell me your experience: 'How is it to be a woman with gynecological cancer?'" Six women were interviewed. The ontological unification which emerged from the speeches were analyzed and interpreted according to Martin Heidegger's philosophical referential. These unifications made possible to see ways to care for these women that go far beyond technical and scientific know-ledge. It is necessary to understand what has been lived by the other, thus ensuring a quality of care that contemplates subjecti-vity and inter-subjectivity.