Malignant fungating wounds: an analysis of the lived experience

OBJECTIVE: The current understanding of living with a malignant fungating wound is derived from professionals' rather than the patient's perspective. An appreciation of the lived experience may assist in the development of more empathetic support approaches. This paper reports upon a study that aimed to illuminate the meaning and experience of living with a malignant fungating wound. METHOD: A Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used as the philosophical framework. Unstructured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of five participants. Content hermeneutic analysis was adopted to analyse the data. RESULT: Four themes were identified: representing the worst part of the patient's cancer; living within a body that cannot be trusted; a changing relationship with the patient's family and friends; and a loss of identity while continuously striving to be normal, yet feeling different. CONCLUSION: Health care professionals must possess a heightened awareness of: the importance of the impact of the wound upon day-to-day living, identity and purpose; the value of adopting the phrase used by the patient to describe their wound; and to focus more upon the subjective meaning of a visibly changing wound rather than objective measurement.