Healing Experience of Liver Cancer Patients by Complementary and Alternative Diet Therapy

간암 환자의 보완·대체 식이요법 치유과정 경험

Purpose: This study was to evaluate the importance of liver cancer patient's diet and to provide guideline materials for proper nursing intervention. Method: The hermeneutic phenomenological method of van Manen was applied for the in-depth interview of liver cancer patients and the cultural background studies including linguistic, literary and art works to enhance the insight and understanding, from which the meaning of the cognition and lesson of the experiences were extracted. The participants for this study were five male patients, who had been diagnosed with liver cancer, 5-15 years ago and had been treated with Transcatheter Arterial Embolization without chemotherapy. The repeated interview and close observation were carried out for nine months starting from January 2001 in Seoul, Korea. Result: Eight essential themes were emerged ; (1) confliction(frustration) with hospital treatment (2) trial of every possible remedies (3) liking unpolluted natural foods(4) faithful tolerance (5) experiencing diet effectiveness (6) discovering personal control methods (7) deepen their faith in God (8) searching for healthy new life. Conclusion: The alternative diet therapy influenced their life beyond the physical overcoming of cancer toward psychological and spiritual healing. The study evidenced the necessity for scientific research and education on the effectiveness and application of complementary and alternative diet therapy for the treatment of cancer in hospital practices.